


Penny Parker’s Alphabet Soup

by butyoucantnemo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Angst, Avengers Compound, Awards, Baking, Breakfast in Bed, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Childhood Memories, Christmas Decorations, Competition, Dancing, De-Aged Peter Parker, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Diners, Domestic Fluff, Family Dinners, Female Peter Parker, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Peter Parker, Happy Tony Stark, Heart-to-Heart, Hugs, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt/Comfort, James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark Friendship, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, Kid Peter Parker, Light Angst, Milkshakes, Miscommunication, NOT STARKER - Freeform, Nervous Peter Parker, Nostalgia, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Oblivious Peter Parker, One Big Happy Family, Paintball, Parent Tony Stark, Pepper Potts Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Peter Parker Calls Tony Stark "Dad", Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Peter Parker Has a Crush, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is Pepper Potts's Biological Child, Peter Parker is Tony Stark's Biological Child, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Post-Endgame, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, Protective Tony Stark, Secret Relationship, Sick Peter Parker, Sleep Deprivation, Stark Tower, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Cuddles, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Lives, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Trust Issues, Uncle James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Unresolved Tension, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist AU, just in case
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 37,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butyoucantnemo/pseuds/butyoucantnemo
Summary: Short stories based off of words chosen to represent each letter of the alphabet, featuring Penny Parker and our favorite IronDad.(Tags will be added with each new chapter.)
Relationships: Cassie Lang & Peter Parker, Harley Keener/Peter Parker, Harry Osborn/Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Scott Lang & Peter Parker, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark
Comments: 169
Kudos: 578





	1. A is for Award Ceremony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! :)
> 
> I was itching to write and figured I’d take a shot at my first multi-chaptered Penny fic!
> 
> Keep in mind: most of these alphabet stories won’t be interconnected with one another. If two or more chapters are connected, I’ll make sure to let you know beforehand. :)
> 
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy!!
> 
> (All mistakes are mine.)

It’s no secret to anyone that Penny Parker is smart. Like, really _really_ smart. Despite patrolling as Spidergirl almost every night of the week, she still has the ability to get her schoolwork done early and pass every class with flying colors.

Thus, no one’s surprised that by the end of the school year, Penny has the highest grades in her grade level and is set to win every major award at the end-of-the-year award ceremony at her school, as well as give her fellow classmates a little speech.

The thing is: Penny’s _embarrassed._ Sure, she’s proud of herself for working so hard and getting the grades but the part of her that’s proud of herself is overshadowed by the part of her that’s embarrassed at being the center of attention.

And that’s the exact reason she doesn’t mention the award ceremony to Mr. Stark.

Don’t get her wrong; it’s not like she _doesn’t_ want Mr. Stark to come. It’s just that she’s already so shy about being the center of attention and Mr. Stark’s presence would only shine more of a spotlight on her.

That, or he would go full-on Proud Dad Mode (as Pepper likes to call it) and ensure that her cheeks would be permanently stained red by the end of the evening.

Now that she thinks about it, he’d probably do both, hence why she’s not inviting him.

* * *

Penny knows she’s been more anxious and fidgety in the last couple of weeks, basically since the invitations to the award ceremony were mailed out. She _knows_ that Mr. Stark has noticed it too; it’s hard for anyone not to notice at this point.

But Tony doesn’t push her to confess about her anxiousness. He knows by now that Penny will tell him whatever’s on her mind when the time is right for her.

Still, _he_ can’t help but feel anxious because of her anxiousness.

They do this dance for weeks and when the day before the ceremony comes, when Penny is over at the Tower, she’s so nervous around him that she avoids direct eye contact with him and doesn’t let herself stay too close to him for too long out of fear of cracking under the pressure of being near him.

And Tony obviously notices. He tries not to take it personally and instead does the only he can think of once Penny leaves for the day.

He calls May.

“Hey, Tony,” May answers with a warm, motherly voice, picking up after the third or fourth ring.

“Hey, May. You free to talk for a minute?” Tony asks, trying to keep his nervousness over Penny’s behavior out of his voice.

His efforts are futile though because May senses the uneasiness in his voice and immediately responds, “Of course, Tony. Is it about Penny?” This wasn’t an out-of-the-ordinary conversation for the two adults to be having; they frequently call each other to discuss anything and everything about Penny. But, usually, when Tony calls to talk about Penny, it’s without the nervousness in his tone.

“Yeah…I couldn’t help but notice how anxious Penny’s been acting recently, especially today. Do you have any idea what’s up?”

Offhandedly, May answers, “Well, she’s been really dreading her school’s award ceremony happening tomorrow. She’s top of her class and getting some huge academic award but she keeps moaning and groaning about how she doesn’t want to go and be the center of attention.”

“Oh, uh, I didn’t know she has an awards ceremony tomorrow. Or that she’s winning a big award…” Tony says with surprise in his voice, before trailing off in thought.

“Oh, she didn’t tell you?” May asks with an incredulous tone.

“Nope. Never mentioned it,” Tony says shortly, ignoring the tightness in his throat. Did Penny really not want him to come cheer her on for such a big award? Insecurity begins to flood his thoughts as he thinks about his relationship with the young superhero.

Before he could spiral into misery and more insecurity, May’s voice quickly cuts through the silence, “I’m sure she was just nervous to ask you. You of all people should know that her hero worship hasn’t completely disappeared yet.”

Relaxing at her words, Tony chuckles, knowing full well how shy Penny could still be around him despite the two being closer than ever now.

“Look. I’m sure she would love to have you there, despite not mentioning it. What do ya say?” May says with a voice of amusement, used to her niece’s strange yet endearing ways.

“I’d love to. Tell me a time and place and I’ll be there,” Tony responds with a small smile on his lips, already excited for his brainiac of a mentee get the recognition she deserves for all her hard work.

* * *

Let the record show that May did not in fact tell her that Mr. Stark was coming to her award ceremony.

So when she got up on stage towards the end of the ceremony to accept her award and give her little speech, she was flabbergasted to look over to where May was sitting and see Mr. Stark sitting right next to her, clad in a “disguise” consisting of a hat, sunglasses, and the clothes he usually wears in the lab (a.k.a. not the suit and tie he’d usually be caught in public wearing).

Seeming to notice her gaze, Tony lowers his sunglasses off of the bridge of his nose and mouths for her to breathe as his hands move up and down, simulating the deep breaths he wants her to take.

Though overcome with even more nervousness than she had before, Penny closes her eyes, breathes in deep, and begins her speech, sounding and acting like the genius everyone knows she is while her mentor and aunt proudly watch her.

* * *

Penny, of course, kills her speech. But nobody expected anything else from her.

It takes her an obscenely long time to make it to where Tony and May are standing after the ceremony finishes. People all around the exit of the auditorium offer Penny their congratulations for her award and speech while she politely smiles and thanks them. Ned and MJ run over to her once she’s made it through a bulk of the crowd and tackle-hug her. Penny bursts out laughing at her friends’ antics and they talk for a brief moment before Penny excuses herself and heads towards her parental figures (though no one needs to know that that’s how she sees Mr. Stark).

“Hi, guys,” Penny says, blush spreading across her cheeks as she turns bashful. Both May and Tony smile widely at her before going in to hug her.

“You did amazing, sweetie,” May says as they pull away from the hug.

“Thanks, May,” Penny responds, ducking her head while May brings up a hand to gently caress her niece’s face.

“Hey, kid,” Mr. Stark says, amusement lacing his voice, “little birdie told me you were winning some genius award. Care to tell me why you didn’t invite your poor, old, genius of a mentor?” Penny flushes with embarrassment at his words as Tony chuckles, bringing her in for another hug.

“Didn’t know if you’d wanna come. A high school award ceremony is not exactly a typical whereabout of the great Tony Stark,” Penny teases. She squeals and ducks out of his grasp as Tony musses her hair and laughs.

“‘Course I’d wanna come. It’s not everyday your kid wins an award for being the smartest kiddo in school,” Tony jokes as Penny rolls her eyes in amusement at him before looking down at the floor after a few moments, growing quiet.

“Sorry I didn’t invite you. I know I should’ve but I was already super nervous and embarrassed to be in front of all these people and I didn’t want you to see me potentially make a fool of myself so I figured it’d be fine to not invite you and I didn’t think—,“ Penny rambles as her voice grows more and more regretful with every word.

“Hey, hey, Pen? Calm down. I’m not mad, kid. I’m just glad I got to see it after all,” Tony cuts her off, a gentle manner to his words. He reaches his hand under her chin to tilt her face up towards him, seeing tears glisten her eyes.

“Thank you,” Penny sniffs, looking at both of the adults with such love and thankfulness that both of them melt on the inside at the girl in front of them.

“We love you, Penny,” May says as she draws the girl into a tight hug, kissing her cheek.

“Love you guys, too” Penny whispers, looking straight at her mentor as she hugs her aunt. Soon enough, MJ and Ned make their way over to the little group, smiling at her and joining in on the fun.

And in that moment, surrounded by her favorite people in the world, Penny has never felt more loved and appreciated. Happily sighing, she gathers everyone into a group hug, even the reluctant Tony and MJ, and thanks her lucky stars for the life she was given.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick shoutout to my dear friend Mia for being the best cheerleader I could ask for! Thanks for always encouraging my writing! <3
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the first chapter! Let me know what you guys think! Also, I don’t have a schedule for when I will update so be patient and bear with me!! :)
> 
> And if you guys ever want to talk, feel free to message me on tumblr @butyoucantnemo !!


	2. B is for Breakfast in Bed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> Back with a quick update because I was really excited to write this! :)
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!!
> 
> Little warning: I killed May in this (I know, and I’m sorry) but it’s only mentioned briefly and there’s absolutely nothing graphic about it!
> 
> (All mistakes are mine.)

Tony and Pepper’s kind heartedness was never lost on her. Ever since Penny’s known them, she’s noticed just how generous and selfless they are towards just about everyone.

Their benevolence only grew more prominent after she moved into the Tower, following the death of her dear aunt.

Losing her Aunt May was no one of the most difficult things she’s ever had to deal with, but thankfully, having Tony and Pepper by her side helping her cope with her grief made the tragedy of losing her last relative a little bit easier. Of course, she misses her aunt everyday of her life, but she’s reached the point where she smiles instead of crying whenever she thinks of her aunt.

And that’s all because of Tony and Pepper.

They provided Penny their shoulders to cry on, comfort when she needed it most, a home when she had nowhere to go, guidance when she felt lost, and another chance to have a family even without any of her blood relatives with her.

The two adults have always put her needs before their own, which is why Penny figures it’s about time she returns the favor.

It’s the least she could do after all the things they do for her.

It’s a random Saturday on her summer break from school. Getting a good night’s sleep with no nightmares was a rare occurrence, but one thing she was immensely grateful for as she arose from her slumber at around 7 in the morning. 

Knowing by now that Tony rarely ever woke up before 9 o’clock on any given morning and that Pepper slept in even later than Tony on the weekends since it was her only real time off, Penny emerged from her bedroom and made her way to the kitchen, ready to execute her plan.

She was going to give them a nice breakfast in bed.

Not able to decide what the two adults would want for breakfast, she opts to make any kind of breakfast food she can find ingredients for.

With the help of FRIDAY, Penny whips up waffles and pancakes (because she knows Pepper likes pancakes while Tony prefers waffles), omelettes, toast, and a side of fresh fruit with yogurt. She also brews them each a cup of coffee to their likings.

By the time she’s done with cooking, it’s around 8:50, meaning Tony should be waking up sometime soon. Deciding to wait until at least 9 o’clock before bringing it into them, Penny gets started on cleaning up the mess she’s made of the kitchen. She works in silence, save for the One Direction song she’s softly humming, until FRIDAY makes herself known.

“ _Young miss, boss and lady boss are beginning to wake up_ ,” the AI informs her. With that cue, she dries her hands from washing the dishes and gets out the lap trays to put the food and coffee on.

Penny juggles the two huge trays in her hands, before remembering that she’s Spidergirl and can literally stick her hands to anything, and makes her way over to the master suite where Tony and Pepper are. Seeing as she doesn’t have a hand open, Penny whispers to FRIDAY, asking if she would simulate a knocking sound to alert the two waking adults.

“ _Boss has granted permission to enter_ ,” FRIDAY notifies the young superhero just as the door gently swings open. Penny hesitantly makes her way into the room, keeping her sticky grip on the trays, and sees the happy couple sleepily smiling at her from their spots on the bed.

“Hi, sweetie,” Pepper says softly, motioning Penny to come into the room.

“Whatcha got there, kiddo?” Tony amusedly questions as he watches Penny come closer.

The teenager stops near the foot of the bed and starts fidgeting in her place before answering, “Well, uh, y-you guys are always doing nice stuff for me so I…I thought I could do something nice for you.” Even in the semi-darkness of the room, the adults can still make out the vibrant blush spreading like a wildfire over her face.

“Come here, kid,” Tony says with a smile as Pepper pats the space on the bed next to her. With that invitation, Penny makes her way to the side of the bed and gently hands each adult a tray of their breakfast before hesitantly sitting down.

Pepper gasps in awe at the sight on her lap before whispering, “Oh, honey, this is beautiful. You did this for us?” Tony continues staring at the food in his lap with a soft expression.

“Y-yeah,” Penny mutters, playing with her fingers in nervousness, “I didn’t have a nightmare last night, which means I woke up early and I knew you guys would sleep in so I figured I could at least make you a nice breakfast in bed since you’re always doing stuff for me. A-and I didn’t know what you guys wanted so I just cooked e-everything. B-but, anyway, I’ll go so you two can enjoy your food.” She moves to stand up from the bed and leave the room without looking anyone in the eye, but a hand of each of her arms stops her from going anywhere. She looks up and sees both of her guardians holding onto her and staring at her with faces so full of love and appreciation that she almost has to look away again.

“You know you didn’t have to do this, right?” Tony remarks.

“I, um, if you don’t want it, I can just offer it to someone el—,” Penny blabbers, shooting to her feet and making a move to collect the trays while avoiding eye contact out of embarrassment. Luckily, Tony cuts her off before she can get much farther.

“Hey, woah, hold on, kid. I didn’t mean it like that, sorry. I just meant that you didn’t have to do all of this just because we take care of you. That’s our jobs, you know? And we don’t do stuff for you because we have to; we do it because we _want_ to. And we don’t expect anything in return,” Tony promises in a gentle, parental tone as he smiles at his kind-of, almost, everything-but-blood daughter.

“Yes, sweetie,” Pepper pipes in after Tony finishes his statement, “we love doing stuff for you. And we don’t ever want you to feel like you have to make it up to us.” Pepper then reaches out to gently sit her back down on the bed. Once she’s seated, Pepper brings one hand up to softly brush the girl’s messy hair and the other hand to latch onto one of Tony’s.

“Yeah, I-I know. But still…it’s the least I could do,” Penny murmured, looking up at the two adults and flashing a small smile.

“Well, thank you, Ink Pen. You know how much I love your omelettes,” Tony quips, smirking as he picks up his utensils, ready to dig into the feast in front of him.

“Thank you, dear. Did you get anything for yourself?” Pepper questions as she sets the napkin on her lap, looking up at Penny.

“Oh, uh, I’m just going to grab some cereal. No biggie,” the girl assures, waving off the adults’ concern and making a move to leave again.

“No, wait a minute, Underoos. This is more than enough food for all three of us to share. Come on,” Tony suggests, patting the space between himself and his wife. At the look she gets from both Pepper and Tony, Penny quietly huffs and crawls her way to the middle of the bed, nestling in between the two people she trusts most.

The little family of three sits in the bed, laughing and eating breakfast for what feels like hours. Pepper and Tony continue to smother Penny with their thanks and appreciation while the girl waves them off and flushes in embarrassment. After they finish eating, Penny snuggles up to Pepper, putting her head on the older woman’s shoulder. The woman brushes Penny’s hair softly out of her face and Tony brings a hand up to gently scratch the girl’s back, knowing how fast she can fall asleep when she’s being scratched.

It takes all of three minutes before Penny drifts off into a peaceful slumber, and when the adults notice, they softly look at each other with lovesick smiles before leaning in for a soft kiss, knowing how lucky they got to be trusted with the sweet girl in between them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys think! I love getting to talk to you all!! <3
> 
> And as always, you can message me on tumblr @butyoucantnemo !!
> 
> Thanks for reading! Until next time....


	3. C is for Clinic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly my best chapter but I was ready to move on to the next letter haha! 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy! :)
> 
> (All mistakes are mine.)

May trusted Tony enough to add him to Penny’s contact list at her school, which still boggles his mind to this day. Sure, he’s thrilled to be trusted with the young hero and doesn’t take that responsibility lightly but he’s also a mess too. How can he be trusted to take care of another human at any given moment when he still struggles to take care of himself sometimes?

But nevertheless, Tony accepted when May asked to add him and he’s been the backup person to call for awhile now.

It’s not until months later that his name on that contact list is actually needed.

It’s just a random Thursday in late February. Tony’s down in his lab, working on the restoration of an old car for Penny’s birthday (though she doesn’t know it’s for her yet). He’s rifling through his tool box when his loud music cuts off and FRIDAY comes on over the speaker.

“ _Boss, you’re receiving an incoming call from Miss Penny’s school,_ ” the AI informs Tony.

Promising himself not to freak out just yet, Tony calmly responds, “Put ‘em through, FRI.”

A couple seconds pass as the call connects and once Tony can hear a rustling sound from the other end of the call, he says, “Hello? Did something happen to Penny?”

“Good morning, Mr. Stark. This is Margot Lynn, the school nurse. I’m calling to inform you that Miss Penny Parker has come down with a bad cold and needs to be taken home. I tried calling the first name on the contact list, May Parker, but was informed by Penny that her aunt couldn’t take time off of work to come pick her up. Are you available to pick her up? If not, is there someone else I can contact to come get her?”

Immediately, Tony stands up and assures the nurse, “No, that won’t be necessary, ma’am. I’m on my way now. Should be there in 20 minutes.”

“Perfect, Mr. Stark. We’ll see you then,” the nurse says before ending the call. And with that, Tony makes his way to his garage and into the fastest car he owns, already anxious to get Penny rested and healthy once more.

* * *

“Yeah, hi, here to pick up Penny Parker,” Tony tells the woman at the front office when he arrives at the school.

Surprisingly, the woman doesn’t seem phased by the man’s presence and casually slides the clipboard containing the sign out sheet over the desk to Tony.

“Just sign her out here, sir, then you can go see her,” the woman says before pointing in the direction of the school clinic.

Tony signs the paper and walks the few feet to the clinic, peering into the room. His heart breaks a little when he sees Penny curled up in a little ball on the clinic cot, looking utterly miserable. The nurse is sitting close to the girl’s head, gently stroking her hair with one hand and holding an ice pack to the young hero’s head with the other hand.

Wanting Penny to get better as soon as possible, Tony knocks on the open door and softly says, “Hey. How’s she doing?” He moves into the room and sits down by the girls legs, reaching to gently grab one of her hands. At the contact, Penny opens her eyes slightly and looks at her mentor.

“Mis’er S’ark?” Penny slurs, voice thick with pure exhaustion. He came hear how stuffy her nose is and internally winces in sympathy for her.

“Hey, kiddo. Ready to go?” he asks the drowsy girl, moving to stand up and collect Penny from her spot in the cot.

“Wanna go home,” Penny moans miserably as Tony lifts her up and onto her feet. He lets her lean heavily into him and moves his arms to secure her close.

“I’m gonna take you back to the Tower. I’m not leaving you sick at home while May works. Sound good?” Tony murmurs to Penny as she hides her face in the crook of his neck and nods. “Alright, kid. Let’s go,” he says before turning his head towards the nurse, “thank you for calling. Have a great day.”

“‘M tired,” Penny quietly huffs as they make their way out of the school and to his car.

“I know, honey. Just give me twenty minutes and you’ll be laying down with some medicine in you,” Tony assures as he sets her in the passenger seat and buckles her up.

Penny’s asleep by the time he makes it to his side of the car and climbs in. Huffing a laugh in amusement, he smiles and starts the journey back to the Tower.

* * *

It was quite the task to get Penny in the Tower. She was still asleep by the time he drove into the garage and remained asleep even after Tony tried to coax her awake.

That meant his only option was to carry her up to his floor.

He may be a superhero but carrying a human being through a garage, to an elevator, and through a huge penthouse floor was not the easiest task.

But nevertheless, he did and now Penny is settled on the living room couch as Tony makes her a nice batch of homemade chicken noodle soup she can eat when she wakes up.

And two hours later, she does wake up.

Tony’s sitting at the kitchen island, drawing up some blueprints on his StarkPad when he hears rustling and grunts from the couch a few feet away.

“You up, Pen?” Tony says in a soft voice, standing up and leaning over the back of the couch to look at the girl. 

A grunt is all he gets in response.

Tony laughs lightly and moves back to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and the bottle of medicine made specifically for her enhanced metabolism.

“Here, Underoos Take some of these real quick,” Tony suggests as he helps her sit up to take the medicine. “You up for eating a little bit of soup?”

Instead of saying anything, Penny just weakly smiles at him and nods. With that, he once again goes to the kitchen, bringing back a bowl of warm soup with saltine crackers and a Gatorade on a lap tray.

“Alright, Peninsula, time to eat.” Tony sits down next to her on the couch, helping her get situated.

As he fusses over her, Penny looks at him with hooded eyes and says with all the gratefulness she can muster, “Thank you.”

“Of course, honey,” Tony says with a genuine smile, “now, how about we turn on that show you’re always telling me we have to watch. Chuck, was it?”

And that’s how they spend the rest of their day: sitting on the couch, watching her favorite TV show, eating bits of soup here and there, and enjoying the other’s company.

Though Penny has a pretty nasty cold, she wouldn’t trade this time with her mentor for anything in the world. And that’s the last thing she thinks of before she falls into a peaceful sleep, cuddled up close to one of the people she trusts most in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys thought! :)
> 
> Also, would any of you be open to being my beta reader? Or do you know someone who would willing to be my beta reader? I dislike editing so much so that it makes me not want to write stories, so finding a beta reader would help me tremendously! If that appeals to you, please either leave me a comment so we can talk or message me on tumblr @butyoucantnemo !! It would mean so much to me! :)


	4. D is for Dancing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!! :)
> 
> I really really like this chapter and I hope you guys do too!
> 
> (All mistakes are mine.)

Ever since Penny was a newborn baby, dancing had been Tony’s favorite thing to do with his daughter. Sure, he savored the lab time they shared when she got older and the lazy Saturday mornings the two of them spent together, but nothing could beat dancing with her. 

Tony still remembers the first dance he ever shared with his daughter. He had found out about four months prior to that day that he had gotten someone pregnant. To be honest, he wasn’t that shocked that he had managed to knock someone up, but he _was_ surprised with the response he had to the whole situation. 

The woman, Mary, had told Tony that she didn’t want the child and was making plans to give the child up for adoption when they were born. Right when she uttered the words “give up for adoption” though, Tony’s breath caught in his throat and he quickly told Mary that he’d take the child, shocking both adults to no end. 

He spent the four months leading up to the birth of his child researching everything he could about taking care of a kid and what they needed to be happy and healthy. It was safe to say he felt prepared to have a child around him all the time. 

But nothing could have prepared him for the overwhelming feeling of love that overtook him as he laid his eyes on his child, his _daughter_. 

Mary was a champ through birth and when their daughter was finally out in the world, being cleaned and measured, the woman had turned to Tony and told him that she didn’t feel it was her place to hold the child she was giving up, thus giving Tony the chance to hold the baby girl first. 

The moment his daughter was placed into his arms, his heart stopped and he was unable to do anything but stare at the little bundle of love he was holding. Unprecedented tears flooded his eyes as he cooed at his little girl, amazed that something _so beautiful_ came from something he did. 

“What are you going to name her, Tony?” Mary quietly asked after a few minutes, sounding utterly exhausted yet relieved from the whole experience. 

Tony had planned for almost everything in the preparation for the birth of his child, but the one thing he didn’t plan was a name for them. Mary has asked that they wait to find out the baby’s sex until the birth, knowing that she’d start getting attached to the child if she knew what she was having. Right after she’d told him that, Tony told himself that he wouldn’t pick out a name for the baby just yet; he’d wait to decide a name after he’d seen his child for the first time. 

And now, looking at his daughter, he acted on a whim and picked out a name he never thought he’d consider. 

“Penelope,” he told Mary, still staring at his little girl,

“Penelope Maria Stark. Penny for short.” 

It was only later when Mary was fast asleep and Penny was snoozing in his welcoming arms that he fulfilled a dream that he wished to do but never believed would come true: he shared a dance with his daughter. There was no music, no fancy clothes, no people around; it was just the two of them swaying in the hospital room, completely absorbed in their own little world. And that was a moment Tony would cherish forever. 

* * *

Life with a baby was difficult, probably the most difficult thing he’d ever experienced before. 

But life with a baby was also such a blessing. 

There were definite ups and downs to the whole experience; Penny cried a lot during the day and almost never wanted to be held by anyone but Tony, but she was also an amazing sleeper and was incredibly well-behaved when she was with her dad. And though Tony was constantly exhausted and never got much time to work in his lab or have some much needed time to himself, he also wouldn’t trade life with his daughter for anything else in the world. 

He started to second guess that idea when Penny learned how to walk. 

With a genius for a father, it really was no surprise that Penny was advanced for her age. That meant she learned how to crawl and walk sooner than many other babies. 

And even though having a walking baby around the house was a handful to deal with, it also gave him a chance to actually dance with his daughter. 

Instead of sweeping the little girl into his arms, Penny was able to stand up on her own and grip her father’s fingers with her petite, baby hands. And with that, Penny learned how to sway with Tony. 

It became the little girl’s favorite thing to do with her dad and Tony couldn’t help but fall more in love with his little girl for it. 

* * *

Even as Penny grew out of her baby clothes, her crib, and her need to constantly be held by Tony, she never grew out of her love for dancing with her dad. 

Dancing became a source of comfort for the two. 

Whether it was a good day or a bad day, the two always found themselves dancing with one another, just seeking each other’s warmth and protection. 

And they needed that warmth and protection more than ever following Tony’s kidnapping. 

Three months. Tony had to endure three months of constant torture, malnourishment, and anxiety of what was to come. But the hardest part of all of it was three months of being away from Penny. Three months without seeing her beautiful face every morning. Three months without hearing her melodious laugh at almost all times of the day. Three months without reading her any bedtime stories and tucking her in for the night. 

Three months without dancing. 

That last thought was what fueled him to get out of that cave more than anything. He didn’t want their last dance to be so soon. 

Shen Tony was finally rescued and brought back home to his daughter, the first thing she did was hug him with an ironclad grip and ask him for a dance. 

And he gave her that dance, right in front of Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, and anyone else watching, not caring that both of them had tears streaming down their faces or that one of Tony’s arms was in a sling. None of that mattered as Tony got to hold his daughter close again, surrounded by the warmth, love, and protection she emitted for her small being. 

* * *

Penny found out about Iron Man months later. She noticed how busy her dad seemed to be after the time he was gone. She knew whatever happened during his three months away had left him with scars, both figuratively and literally, and that he wasn’t doing as well as he used to. But she would have never guessed he was building himself a suit of armor. 

Penny never questioned her dad about what he was doing, what made him so distanced from everyone. And even though she was curious by nature, she’d told herself she would never ask or upset him about his whereabouts. She found out about it all by mistake. 

She’d had a nightmare that night about her dad never returned home. She dreamed of Pepper telling her that her father wasn't coming back for her and she remembered sobbing into the woman’s arms as she screamed for her dad. The nightmare didn’t continue much longer before she woke up with a jolt, letting out a gut-wrenching sob and clutching her chest as she struggled to breathe. It took her all of a few seconds before she threw back the covers of her bed and made her way out of the room in search of her dad and a dance. 

She’d checked everywhere she could think of: the living room, his bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom, even Pepper’s room before remembering one other place her father could be seen in. 

His lab. 

Penny had never really spent time in her dad’s lab, save for the few times he took her down there when he had something really important and time sensitive to work on. But she needed him more than anything right now, so with the help of JARVIS, Penny made her way down to her dad’s lab. 

It didn’t take Tony long to notice he had a guest in his lab, and to notice that said guest’s eyes were swollen and red from crying. Tony quickly jumped up for his work station and made his way over to his not-so-little girl, ready to comfort her and find out what the problem was. 

“Hey, baby, baby? Can you breathe? I’m going to need you to breathe in deep for me, sweetie,” Tony soothed was he wrapped the still-crying girl into his arms. 

It took around fifteen minutes for Penny to finally calm down again and when she did, the first thing she said was, “Daddy, can you dance with me?” as he brushed a few stray tears from her cheeks. 

“Of course, baby. J, play us something nice,” Tony called out before standing up and taking Penny’s little hands in his own. 

They danced around the room, laughing and enjoying a moment that wasn’t filled with anxiety, worry, or nightmares, before something red and gold colored caught her eye. 

“Daddy, what’s that over there?” Penny questioned, moving the two over to the suit-looking thing in the corner of the lab. 

“Oh, uh, well, Daddy’s busy building something, Pen,” Tony responded, clearly avoiding the girl’s question. But Penny knew better than that. 

“Yeah, I know that Daddy, but what _is_ it?” Penny shot back, not letting her question go unanswered. 

Sighing, knowing that she wasn’t going to drop the issue, Tony explained, “Well, honey, I’m building a suit.”

“A suit?”

“A suit,” Tony confirms. 

“That doesn’t look like the suits you usually wear,” Penny inquired, tilting her head to the side in confusion. 

Laughing, Tony dropped down to her level, ignoring the cracking sound of his knees, and said, “You’re absolutely right about that, my Lucky Penny. This is a suit of armor made to protect me. When I was gone for those three months, a man helped me make a suit kind of like this. He and the suit saved my life. And because of that, I’m building this suit to save others just like that man saved me.” 

“So, you’ll be like a superhero?” Penny responded, absorbing all of the information. “You’re going to go out and save others like a superhero with this suit?”

“Yeah, baby, kind of like a superhero,” Tony agreed, looking at his daughter and hugging her tight. 

“And you promise to be safe? I just had a nightmare about you never coming back from being gone. I don’t want that to happen in real life,” Penny inquired, holding her pinky out to her dad with tears glistening in her eyes. 

Tony smiled softly at his precious girl, hooked his own pinky with her’s, and assured her, “I’ll stay safe. I promise, baby girl.” 

With that, the seriousness set on Penny’s face faded away and she beamed at her dad. “Cool. Can we finish our dance?”

And how could Tony say no to that?

* * *

Penny had known that something was happening. 

She had known that something was happening when her dad introduced him to his new friends, saying something about the “Avengers”, whatever that meant. 

She had known that something was happening when her dad had to go away and left her with Pepper, telling both of them to get out of the city and to someplace safe. 

She had known that something was happening when Pepper turned on the news during their flight and Penny saw the signature red and gold Iron Man suit fighting some kind of alien creatures. 

But she had known that something _bad_ was happening when she picked up Pepper’s phone, displaying her dad’s name and contact picture, and answered him. 

“Pep?” her dad had asked, sounding out of breath and scared, kind of like how she sounded after a really bad nightmare. 

“Dad?” Penny answered, nervous as to what was happening. 

“Hey, baby girl. You with Pepper?” he questioned, voice turning strained. 

“Yeah, daddy, I’m with Pepper,” Penny assured. “Are you okay? I saw you on the TV. When are you coming home?”

Sighing dejectedly, her dad answered, “I-I don’t know baby. I don’t know when I’m coming home.”

Dread flooded Penny as she took in her father’s words. She immediately burst into tears, gaining the attention of Pepper and the others on the plane, before saying, “No, daddy, no. You have to come home. You promised. You promised you’d come home,” Penny sobbed as her breathing sped up, a tell tale sign of an anxiety attack on the way. 

“I know, baby. I know I promised. But I’ve got to save these people. I’ve got to be a superhero, Penny,” he said, tears evident in his voice. 

“No, daddy, please. I want another dance. Please, don’t go. I need another dance,” Penny wailed, not caring about how loud she was or how she was supposed to act like a big girl and not cry. 

“I want another dance, too, Penny. If I get home, we’ll have another dance. Okay, Penny? I love you, baby girl. Never forget I lo—,” he promised before being cut off, the line going dead. 

Penny had never sobbed more in her life. 

All she wanted was to be held in her dad’s arms, to dance with her dad again. But all she got was tears and comfort from Pepper. 

They stayed that way for what felt like hours, Penny wailing in Pepper’s arms and the older woman trying everything to soothe her, even if she herself had felt like bursting into tears. But when Pepper looked away from the sobbing girl and at the TV, she noticed that all the aliens had dropped to the ground, as if they’d lost their battery, and that Tony was sitting up on the ground in his Iron Man suit, surrounded by his fellow superheros, looking very much alive to Pepper. 

Knowing that she needed to get the girl back to her dad as soon as possible, Pepper had shouted to the pilot, telling him to immediately turn the plane around, back to New York City. 

In the blink of an eye, they landed and Pepper was coaxing Penny to stand up and get off the plane. They had landed on a street close by the Tower and when they made their way up to the penthouse suite, Penny finally raised her head from where it was tucked into Pepper’s side, only to see her dad, surrounded by the friends she had been introduced to, and a man with some kind of thing keeping him from talking and handcuffs. 

But Penny hadn’t cared about any of that. All she had cared about was seeing her dad, right in front of her, safe and at home. 

“Daddy!” Penny shrieked, running to Tony as fast as her legs could carry her, all while covered in tears and snot. 

“Hey, baby,” Tony answered, everything about him screaming pure exhaustion. 

“You came back,” Penny exclaimed, sobbing in relief. 

“Of course I did, Ink Pen. I promised I would,” he assured, clutching his daughter and brushing the hair out of her swollen, tear-stained face. “Now, how about that dance?”

Giggling softly and beaming in joy, Penny nodded her head and released him from her grasp, giving him enough time to stand up before clutching at his hands and burying her face in his stomach. 

So, standing there, in front of the rest of the Avengers and the man who tried destroying the whole city, Penny and Tony danced together without a care in the world. 

* * *

Discovering that Penny—his only daughter, the light of his life, the person he cared for most in the world—was Spidergirl was not an altogether good feeling to have as a parent. 

Knowing that his daughter was the vigilante that dressed in spandex and swung around the city of Queens did absolutely _nothing_ to help his heart condition. 

But, he _was_ thankful that Penny had enough sense in her to tell him about her new powers only a few days after Spidergirl made her appearance for the first time. 

They’d both cried when she told him, Penny because she was worried what her dad would think of her now that she wasn’t normal, and Tony because he was worried for his once little girl’s safety. 

In the end though, after all the crying, worrying, apologies, and promises, Penny silently held out her hand to her dad, asking without words for a dance. 

Seeking the comfort and reassurances his daughter would provide, Tony immediately latched onto her hand and drew her into his chest. And even though there were still things to talk about and work through, Tony and Penny ignored the world around them and danced the night away. 

* * *

Tony and Penny continued dancing through life. 

They danced anytime one or both of them came home from battle. 

They danced after Penny went on her first ever date. 

They danced when Tony proposed to Pepper. 

They danced at Tony and Pepper’s wedding, surrounded by all the people they loved most. 

They danced when Pepper announced she was pregnant, and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl that Penny instantly fell in love with and got to call her sister. 

They danced at every holiday, whether it was Christmas, Thanksgiving, or a birthday. 

They danced when Penny got engaged and when she got married. 

They continued dancing even as Penny started a family of her own, vowing to dance with her own kids just as he had danced with her. 

Now, as he stands on the porch his cabin, watching his family—which consists of Pepper, Morgan, Rhodey, Happy, Penny’s “aunt” May, Penny, Penny’s husband Harry, all of his sweet grandchildren, and the entirety of the Avengers—having a dance party in his yard, he can’t help but melt out of pure, unadulterated happiness. And with that, he goes and joins his dysfunctional family, taking Penny’s hands in his own and enjoying the best dance of his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you guys think! I alway love reading your comments! :)


	5. E is for Exhausted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> The writer’s block was STRONG on this one. I literally spent HOURS trying to figure out what word to use for a story. Most of the words made me think of really angsty story ideas so I ultimately went with this one instead.
> 
> Also, in this story’s universe, Civil War never happened but Tony still met Penny at the same time. That’s not a huge, important part of the story but I didn’t want to confuse anyone! 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you all enjoy!!
> 
> (All mistakes are mine.)

Penny was just a little tired. Actually, no, Penny was _exhausted_. 

Juggling school, patrols, lab time with Tony, and family time with May was not an easy task. And in order to get all of her activities to fit her schedule, sometimes she had to sacrifice a good night of sleep, or good _nights_ of sleep in some cases. 

She hadn’t meant to not sleep for multiple days in a row, honestly; it was just difficult to do everything she needed to during the day, meaning that Penny had to resort to working at night to get things done. 

Everyone had noticed the girl’s fatigue, even most of the Avengers who only stopped by the Tower a couple times a month, electing to stay at the Compound more often than not. 

Tony knew instantly when Penny started to lose her daily sleep. First of all, he could see it on her face, thanks to the heavy bags under her eyes. Second of all, her body language was a little more withdrawn and her movements had gotten increasingly sluggish as time went on. And last but not least, she was constantly dozing off during lab time, head propped up on her hands and eyes repeatedly slipping closed at the most inopportune times. 

Tony was worried; of course he was worried for his mentee, but he kind of figured that she’d fix the problem herself without having an adult interfere. 

Boy was he wrong about that. 

Instead of fixing the problem, the girl seemed to be making the problem worse. Tony knew she had a lot on her plate and that sometimes it was hard to balance all of her activities. But he also knew how unhealthy it was for a person to avoid sleeping for multiple days at a time, based on his own experiences. 

It all came to a head about two or three months after the sleep deprivation had started. 

In those months, Tony grew more worried while Penny grew more tired. He saw his mentee slowly losing herself amidst the exhaustion and knew that he needed to intervene quickly in order to be of any help to the girl. 

Ready to talk some sense into the well-meaning girl, Tony had called Penny on a day when they weren’t scheduled to meet and invited her and May over for a family dinner with all the Avengers, plus Pepper and Happy. She gladly accepted, never passing up the opportunity to see her favorite people, and Tony had immediately begun devising a plan on how to get his kid to sleep. And luckily, he knew just what to do. 

* * *

Tony had been pretty proud of his plan, to put it lightly. The kid was an absolute sucker for those Captain America PSA’s that they showed at her school, so Tony had called in a favor from Spangles and asked him to make a specially-made PSA for Penny, discussing the benefits of getting good sleep each night and what not. 

Steve had rolled his eyes at the request but ultimately relented due to his concern for the young hero. 

Tony had planned on showing her the video at the family dinner so that after Penny watched it in front of everyone, the Avengers would then begin good naturedly guilt-tripping the Spiderling into sleeping regularly again. 

It didn’t go quite as planned. 

Mostly because right as the plate of spaghetti was set in front of her and the video was getting queued up, Penny had face-planted right on her spaghetti, already fast asleep. 

Time stood still for a moment or two as everyone at the table stared at Penny, faces filled with an assortment of shock, horror, and amusement at what had happened. All at once, everyone looked away from the sleeping girl and turned to each other, before they burst out laughing and stood up to help the exhausted, young hero. 

“Penny? Hello? Earth to Underoos?” Tony chuckled as he spoke loudly in the girl’s ear, shaking her shoulders lightly in order to wake her up. 

She stirred a little and groaned into the pile of spaghetti before slowly sitting up, blinking her eyes open and looking around the room to see the amused faces of her family. 

Confused, Penny groggily asked, “What just happened?” before reaching up to rub at her eyes. 

“Well, Pink Penther, you decided to take a little nap in your food,” Tony answered with a laugh, right as she pulled her hand away from her face and noticed the tomato sauce all over her knuckles. 

“Oh god,” Penny groaned in embarrassment before plopping her face back onto her plate of spaghetti, ready for the floor to open up and swallow her whole. 

The laughing only grew louder as Penny plotted her ultimate demise in a plate full of noodles. She heard light snickering over her shoulder, obviously coming from Tony, before he gently laid his hand on her back, urging her to get up from her spot in the spaghetti. 

Sighing, Penny stood up, ignoring everyone else in the room, and let herself be led to the bathroom by her mentor. 

“Well, as amusing as that was,” Tony started, watching as Penny’s cheeks flushed behind the mask of tomato sauce over her face, “you do know this isn’t healthy, right? You’ve gotta take better care of yourself, kiddo. You can’t keep skipping out on sleep.” When Penny looked down in embarrassment and shame, Tony gently lifted her chin so she would look him in the eyes and see the concern behind them. 

“I...I know, Mr. Stark. I’ve just got so much to do sometimes and I feel like I never have enough time for it all,” Penny started as Tony grabbed a towel, ran it under the water, and began wiping the sauce off of her face. “There’s just so much pressure on me to be a good student, a good superhero, a good niece, and a good intern. And it’s gotten so _hard_ to keep up with and I feel like I’m falling apart,” Penny finished, letting a sob bubble its way out of her mouth. Tony’s eyes turned even more soft and gentle, if that was possible, and he quickly wiped the rest of the sauce—and tears—off of her face before bringing her head to rest on his shoulder. 

“Why didn’t you ever say anything, Penny? You know we all would’ve helped you,” Tony assured, carefully bringing his hand up to gently brush her hair. 

Penny’s sobs only increased as she admitted, “I didn’t want to disappoint any of you. The disappointment would be ten times worse than losing some sleep here and there.”

At that, Tony immediately shook his head and stated, “Listen to me, Penny,” using his fatherly but gentle tone, “you could never, _never_ disappoint me or anyone in that room, okay? You are the best of all of us, and that’s not going to change just because you get a couple bad grades, let a criminal get away here and there, forget to do the dishes at May’s, or mess up an experiment in the lab. I promise.” His eyes had held so much emotion that Penny had a hard time concentrating on the words rather than the overwhelming feeling of love he was providing her. 

“Pinky promise?” Penny sniffled whilst a tiny giggle escaped her lips. At her little laugh, Tony’s lips quirked into a smirk and he hooked his pinky with hers. 

“I pinky promise, kid. Now how about I get you a little snack and we can watch movies on the couch until you fall asleep?” Tony asked, feeling accomplished when Penny nodded and smiled up at him. 

“As long as it’s not spaghetti. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at spaghetti the same after this,” Penny laughed, feeling like tons of weight had been lifted from her shoulders, all thanks to Tony. 

“God, no. No more spaghetti for the time being,” Tony assured before he gave Penny a side hug and left the room to get the snacks. 

* * *

He invited the rest of the dinner guests to their movie screening, feeling bad that he made them all come just for the dinner to go spectacularly _not_ according to plan. Penny hadn’t minded, feeling too exhausted to feel embarrassed, and just cuddled up close to her mentor with her aunt on her other side, feeling utterly safe and accepted. 

Penny didn’t last two minutes into the movie before she conked out with her head resting in Tony’s lap, wondering how she got so lucky as to have such a supportive family by her side, helping her along every step of the way. 

And that’s the last thing she thought of before drifting into a peaceful slumber. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it!! Let me know what you thought! :)


	6. F is for Fireflies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!
> 
> I hope everyone’s doing well and staying safe! 
> 
> Also, a huge thanks to my beta reader, EmmaElsa0000! Thank you for your feedback! :)

It had been six days since the final battle with Thanos. 

Six days since those who got dusted were returned to reality. 

Six days since Tony Stark made the sacrifice play and lost his arm (but thankfully not his life). 

Six days since they won, since they claimed victory over the mad Titan. 

Six days since Penny Parker was thrust back into a world she thought she knew, but that had ultimately changed while she had been stuck in the Soul Stone. 

Six days since the nightmares had started, the sleepless nights returned, and the unease about the new world around her had slowly consumed her ever waking moments. 

* * *

The nightmares were worse than ever before. Worse than the time she got trapped under that building thanks to the Vulture, worse than the months after she had seen her uncle get murdered in cold blood, and worse than the time after her parents’ tragic death where she couldn’t help but feel utterly abandoned. 

Those had all been bad, but they hadn’t come close in comparison to the nightmares after Thanos. 

Penny couldn’t sleep. She had been working hard to adjust to her new life in the six days following the final battle but no matter how exhausted she got after a day of thinking about all that had changed, she could never sleep. Well, she had _tried_ but was almost immediately frightened awake by the vivid, painful memories that pegged her night visions. 

And there had been nothing she could do about it. 

So, she had resorted to the method she used before everything with the Snap happened: whenever she had a particularly frightening nightmare, she would quietly sneak out of her room and onto the fire escape right outside of her window to watch the fireflies at night. 

The fireflies were always the one thing that could calm Penny down almost instantly. 

And that’s how she had found herself every night after the final battle, sitting on the fire escape, looking wistfully at the fireflies floating around her head, and trying to avoid thinking about anything from the new world she was living in. 

And her method had worked for the most part…especially when Tony had invited her and May to stay with him at his (new to her) cabin six days after the defeat of Thanos. 

* * *

It was a celebration party for their victory. Every Avenger, old and new, had gathered at Tony’s cabin to celebrate the lives’ they had saved and the valiant battle they all fought tirelessly through. 

It was cool, Penny would admit. Seeing all the Avengers gather together away from the battlefield had been something she had dreamed of seeing since she was a little girl. 

And Penny wanted badly, _so badly_ , to enjoy the monumental moment, but everything had felt unusually _dull_ to her. She had felt herself forcing smiles and feigning politeness in front of all the party-goers but found that nothing about the evening made her feel any real, true _joy_ , not even seeing her mentor and his adorable kid or getting to watch Steve and Sam throw the shield back and forth like a frisbee. 

Her whole world had switched to black and white, unbeknownst to everyone around her. 

She hid it well. It was no secret that she was a _terrible_ liar (God only knows how she was able to keep her identity a secret from some people) but somehow, no one seemed to notice how withdrawn and utterly _sad_ Penny had looked. And if anyone had looked at her with concern, like they knew something might’ve been wrong with her, Penny would just fake a smile that looked real to everyone else and carry on like normal. 

She had thought she fooled everyone, until later on that night. 

The party had started winding down at about ten o’clock, some heros retiring to the overwhelming number of guest rooms in Tony’s cabin, while others suffered the drive home. Penny and May were among those who decided to stay, mostly because Tony had asked them multiple times in those six days to come visit the cabin and stay for awhile. 

Penny had retired to bed early, feigning exhaustion (even though Penny definitely _did_ feel exhausted) and slipping away from the party before anyone could further question her. 

She had really tried to sleep, honest to goodness. But she had only gotten about a solid two and a half hours of sleep before she was startled awake, tears streaming down her face and her breathing erratic. 

She had searched for her way out, searched for the familiar feel of her window, where she would undo the lock and slip out onto the steel of the firescape where the fireflies would instantly greet her. 

But she hadn’t been in her apartment in Queens. No, she had been in the spare room of a cabin in the middle of what left like nowhere. 

Though she had felt the beginnings of an anxiety attack, Penny had forced herself to calm down and stealthily slipped out of the room, walking through the Starks’ living room and out the back door. She had rubbed her eyes filled with tears, trying to focus on her surroundings, until she spotted the dock along the river that ran through the backyard. 

Penny had quietly made her way to the dock, wary of the fallen branches and leaves that would surely alert people of her presence outside if she wasn’t careful enough. She had sat down, swinging her legs over the side of the dock and looking out at the gently flowing river beneath her feet. 

Her eyes had still been filled with tears and her breathing had still been completely erratic but the second Penny had noticed a firefly lightly landing on the water, causing it to ripple ever so slightly, she had almost instantly calmed down. 

Penny had no idea how long she sat out on the dock, just watching the fireflies dance around her. She hadn’t been aware of anything else going on around her as she intently watched her light-filled lifesavers mill about, until she felt a blanket being draped across her shoulders. 

Startled out of her little world, Penny had immediately tensed up at the contact, suddenly worried about who the blanket came from and what the person wanted from her this early in the morning. 

She hesitantly turned her head around, only to see said person was Tony, looking at her worriedly before sitting down next to her. 

“Hey, kiddo,” Tony softly greeted, smiling warmly at her. 

“H-hey, Mr. Stark,” Penny said back, voice quiet and meek compared to his. 

“Mind telling me what you’re doing out here, princess?” Tony asked, concern evident in his tone. When she turned away and kept quiet, Tony pressed on. “I noticed how quiet you were at the party earlier. You know you can talk to me about anything, right? What’s going on, honey?”

Upon hearing the utter sincerity in his voice, Penny had slowly let the tears fall once again, not hesitating to accept the comfort he was providing her, and buried her head in the crook of his neck as he cuddled her close using his non-metal arm. 

“I just…I can’t do it anymore, Mr. Stark. I’ve tried my hardest to get used to how things are and I just _can’t_ ,” Penny admitted, hating how hopeless she felt. “I’m up at all hours of the night because of these stupid nightmares and I don’t even know what to do.” By the end of her statement, Penny was sobbing against Tony, feeling pathetically weak and vulnerable. 

“Hey, hey, listen to me, Penny,” Tony firmly said, “don’t ever, _ever_ feel like you have to hide stuff like this from me, okay? I know what you’re going through, sweetheart. I spent months, close to a year, battling sleep after the wormhole because I never talked to anyone. I bottled up my feelings and hid from everyone close to me because I didn’t want to seem weak to them. And to this day, that is one of my biggest regrets. I had people in my corner that would’ve gladly helped me, and instead I ignored their open arms and suffered in silence. What I’m trying to say is, Penny, you don't have to suffer in silence, sweetheart. You always have me in your corner.” 

By the time Tony finished, Penny was nearly inconsolable. Tony had taken it in stride though, engulfing the young hero even more in his welcoming arms and letting her know just how much he loved her. 

It had taken Penny nearly twenty minutes to calm down. Once she had gotten her bearings, Penny shyly whispered, “The fireflies help. Even before the…before the Snap, whenever I had a nightmare or just needed to calm down, I would come outside and watch the fireflies flutter around me. That’s pretty much why I’m out here so late.” Just when she had started to tear up again, a single firefly flew closer, right near her eyes, as if it knew she needed the comfort they provided her. 

“They’re beautiful, Penny. I can see how this would be calming to you,” Tony murmured, hugging the girl even closer. 

“I’m sorry I never told you. It’s just,” she hesitated, only continuing when Tony gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze, “you…you have a family now, Mr. Stark. You have a family and you shouldn’t have to worry about a couple of stupid nightmares I’m having.” Penny felt Tony tense slightly at her words, but he still held her close, afraid of what she would do if he let go of her. 

“Penny, I need you to listen to me, okay?” Tony implored, his voice filled with a mixture of emotions Penny couldn’t distinguish. “Your nightmares aren’t stupid, lovebug. I promise you they’re not. And Penny, I already had a family before the Snap. Just because I have another kid now does _not_ mean that I don’t have time for my first kid. You are my family, Penny; you have been since I met you in that apartment in Queens and you still are even after five years of you being gone. And I’m going to keep reminding you that you’re family until you get it through that thick skull of yours,” Tony finished with a chuckle, smiling even more when Penny giggled. 

A few seconds of silence passed before Penny almost inaudibly whispered, “I love you, Mr. Stark.”

Right there, in that moment, Tony’s heart melted in a pile of goo at the adorable girl in his arms. He kissed the top of her head before whispering back, “I love you more, Penny-pie. Always have, always will.”

And that’s how they spent the rest of their early morning: wrapped in each other’s arms, talking about anything and everything, and watching the fireflies dance around them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this kind of sad chapter! Let me know what you thought! :)


	7. G is for Guest Bedroom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!
> 
> This was 100 times better in my head but it’s super early in the morning and I wrote this in about two-ish hours so, here ya go.
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you all enjoy it!
> 
> (All mistakes are mine.)

The guest bedroom adjacent to Tony’s bedroom had remained unoccupied since the day Stark Tower was finished being built. 

Whenever Rhodey stopped by for a visit, he would always take the bedroom across from Tony, never the one next to Tony. 

It was an empty nest of sorts. It was a modest sized room with muted grey walls, a queen bed, a tony nightstand, and a quaint little en-suite bathroom; no hanging art, no decorative rugs, no toiletries in the bathroom, not even a pillow on the bed. There hadn’t been a real reason why no one used the dull, overly simple room, but after a few years of being untouched, it continued to remain untouched. 

Until Penny Parker came around. 

Tony had given her a room right next to Vision at the Compound but she had turned down his offer to become an Avenger, which was basically the only real reason for her to ever come to the Compound. 

Which meant that when he offered Penny the Stark Internship instead, Tony had had to fix her up a room at the Tower, not at the Compound. 

Of course, Tony knew she was a superhero, and a very capable one at that, but the thought of her staying a floor or two away from him whenever she wanted to stay the night had unsettled him to no end. 

So he gave her the “empty nest”, the one right next to him, just for his peace of mind. 

* * *

Penny had been immensely grateful when Tony offered her the spare guest room. She had expressed her thanks so many times that it had almost given him a headache while also amusing him to no end, which he’d admit was a strange combination of emotions

Tony had then sat her down and asked her to customize her room. 

It was like seeing a kid in a candy store. 

Penny’s eyes lit up as she scrolled through the different options for furniture, color schemes, appliances, and anything else they could think of to go in a teenage girl’s bedroom. 

So the accurately-named Empty Nest had become the Spider Nest. 

They had repainted the dust-covered grey walls to a tannish-grey color, with Penny electing to paint an accent wall of a multi-colored sunshine spreading it’s rays across the large wall. Sure, it wasn’t the typical bedroom you’d find in a multi-million dollar building like the Stark Tower, but it was perfectly Penny and nothing could beat the smile on her face when she finished painting and decorating it. 

They had filled the room with white furniture and brightly colored trinkets, including some Star Wars action figures, science books, boxes upon boxes of Disney puzzles, and, of course, a few Iron Man posters for good measure. The room practically  _ screamed  _ feelings of joy and happiness instead of the dull, uninteresting eyesore that it was before. 

After all was said and done, Penny had been happy, Tony had been happy, and the empty guest bedroom became Penny’s room. 

* * *

Penny stayed in that room any chance she got. It was her absolute favorite place to be in the Tower, other than the lab, and Tony couldn’t blame her. Hell, he preferred the look and feel of her bedroom over his own overly-modern, sleek master suite. 

The room became something that Tony could have never imagined it being. That measly, old spare guest room had turned into a place full of fun, happy memories with the girl who felt like a daughter to him. 

Until the Snap had happened. 

* * *

Penny had been dusted, disappearing from his grasp like thin air. 

He’d lost one of the very few people he’d ever truly cared for in the world. 

He’d lost his kid. 

And when Tony had finally made it home to the Tower, everywhere he looked reminded him of the child he’d lost. 

Especially her bedroom. 

Her bedroom: the one that was full of the most vibrant colors, with the floor covered in Lego pieces and random clothing items, with walls lined with framed pictures of her with her everything-but-blood family, with a ceiling touched with webs that helped hold up random school supplies. 

The room which once brought him happy memories of mornings filled with pillow fights, days filled with puzzle building, nights filled with movie watching, and much more. 

And then instantaneously, with the snap of a finger, Tony could barely look at the formerly vacant guest bedroom without suffering a harrowing panic attack. 

He resorted to permanently locking the girl’s bedroom, only accessible with an override code, and moved to the Compound, away from the treacherous memories of Penny and the ray of sunshine she was. 

And even though the once Empty Nest was  _ technically _ no longer empty, in Tony’s eyes, it had suddenly become empty in every way that mattered. 

* * *

It had been five years. 

Five years since his kid had turned to dust in his arms. 

Five years with a hole in his heart that Penny could only fill. 

Five years since the bedroom had been opened. 

But they’d gotten everyone back. 

They’d gotten  _ Penny  _ back. 

And that was about the only thing that mattered toTony. 

Penny and May had both come back from the Snap without a place to live. Immediately, Tony had offered them residency at the Tower,—once he had recovered from his battle injuries—wanting an excuse to spend as much time as possible with his long-lost kid. 

Just like that, the guest bedroom was back open. And the rightful owner of said guest bedroom immediately filled the previously abandoned room with the jovial spirit it had lacked for five whole years. 

It was like the last piece of the puzzle, seeing Penny in her bedroom. 

It was home, Tony had told himself. Seeing Penny in her room, the one adjacent to his own, felt like home to Tony. 

He hadn’t felt at home in five years. 

But with Penny in that room, hugging May tightly with tears in her eyes, looking around the room in astonishment before settling her gaze on him, Tony had known that there wasn’t anything in the world he wouldn’t do to finally be at home once again. 

Even if it meant losing an arm and having painful burn marks on one side of his body. 

He would have done it all over again just to once again be at home with his daughter, in her insanely bright room, surrounded by Star Wars memorabilia, synthetic spider webs, random school supplies, and memories of all the times they got to spend with each other, growing as a little family. 

And it all happened in that random, weirdly vacant guest bedroom. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact that absolutely no one cares about: this is my first ever story/chapter with absolutely no dialogue, which is definitely different from my other (seemingly) heavy-dialogue stories/chapters. 
> 
> Let me know how you guys liked it! I love hearing your thoughts and comments! :)


	8. H is for Heartsongs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A slight AU based on the show Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okayyyyy, so, this is a little different from what I usually write but I’ve been waiting to write this for so long!!
> 
> If you haven’t watched Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, it’s okay; you don’t have to know anything about the show prior to reading this. It’s just where I got the idea! But it is a really good show and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys musical comedies with some drama!
> 
> Anyways, this story is set during Civil War, but some little details from the movie have changed because it made better sense for the story.
> 
> All mistakes are mine and I hope you enjoy! :)

Remember that one fateful day when Penny was bitten by that freaky, radioactive spider and she gained those crazy superpowers? Well, on top of that, she gained the super random and seemingly unnecessary ability to hear other people’s innermost thoughts and feelings through songs and dance numbers, or heartsongs, as she liked to call them. 

Crazy, right?

She could hear anyone and everyone sing—her powers weren’t picky. Sometimes she heard strangers singing on her patrol; sometimes she heard teachers and classmates singing about the frustrations of life; sometimes she heard her aunt singing in the late night, mourning the death of her dear husband. It didn’t matter who sang, but _everyone_ who sang always picked a song with a very literal meaning. The songs almost _never_ left Penny wondering what the person’s exact feelings were. 

And no one was aware of their singing. In fact, after the song and dance was performed, whoever was singing _always_ ended up in the same place they had started, as if time froze during the performance and the song and dance never happened. 

When she gained her powers and started to realize how they worked, Penny made a pact with herself to always at least _try_ to help people; that meant that while she helped people all the time on patrols, protecting them and keeping them safe, she also had to try to help anyone she heard a song from, if it was within her control of course. 

That’s why whenever she heard her Aunt May crying to herself and singing a sad song, Penny _always_ tried to provide her aunt the comfort she so desperately needed and distract her from her sadness. 

She reminded herself of her pact the day she was waltzed into her apartment, only to find Tony Stark sitting on the couch with her aunt, chatting together like old pals. 

She’d been shocked, and rightfully so; it’s not everyday a world famous billionaire and superhero is found in a small, dingy apartment in Queens. 

And when he asked Penny if she would join him in Germany after talking in her room for a few minutes and she declined because of her “homework”, the last thing she expected to happen was to hear the opening of a song. The only thing Penny could do was stare in bemusement as the billionaire started to sing. 

_Help! I need somebody_

_Help! Not just anybody_

_Help! You know I need someone_

_Help!_

As Tony sang the intro of the well-known Beatles song, Penny watched with rapt attention as he flitted around her in the tiny space of her room, making his true, deep-down feelings known. 

_When I was younger so much younger than today_

_I never needed anybody's help in any way_

_But now these days are gone, I'm not so self assured_

_Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors_

Penny had been a fan of Tony Stark before he was ever an Avenger. She knew that the man was not a huge fan of anyone else’s help, electing to do things his own way. That being said, it was a shock to see him join the team of superheroes in the Battle of New York. And for years, the team was strong and worked well together, always helping others and even each other. 

But, she knew things were changing within the team. 

_Help me if you can, I'm feeling down_

_And I do appreciate you being 'round_

_Help me get my feet back on the ground_

_Won't you please, please help me?_

She’d heard of the Accords. She’d heard that some Avengers didn’t agree with the regulations while others did. And as Tony finished singing his song and the music faded to nothing, Penny figured that something was going to go down between the team, and that’s the reason he needed her help. Why else would he come all the way out to Queens for some random, local superhero?

Penny decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

“Actually,” Penny spoke up, clearing her throat, “I just remembered: I finished my homework in study hall today. So, uh, I-I can go help you in Germany, if you need me.”

Trying to hide his surprise at the girl’s willingness to help him, Tony simply responded, “Yeah, kid. That’d be great.”

* * *

Tony had told her Aunt May that the trip to Germany was for a work conference. She had barely bat an eye at the explanation, instead telling Penny to have fun and be safe. 

If only she’d known how not fun and unsafe the trip turned out to be. 

They’d hopped on Tony’s private jet to Germany and once they’d landed, she was given her new spider suit before suiting up and meeting Tony to head over to the supposed destination. 

He had told her to stay back and hide until his signal, and she did, until she heard him shout, “Underoos.”

Immediately, Penny flipped into view, snatching the iconic Captain America shield with her webs and making her presence known to the rest of the Avengers. The second she landed the flip, she heard the tell tale sounds of a song starting and barely had time to comprehend what was happening before Steve started singing. 

_Cause baby, now we've got bad blood_

_You know it used to be mad love_

_So take a look what you've done_

_’Cause baby, now we've got bad blood, hey!_

Unlike the other heartsongs she was used to witnessing, there was absolutely no movement in this one, not even a single dance move. Everyone just stood completely still, staring daggers at each other at the person across from them as the team leaders sang, Tony taking the next section of the chorus. 

_Now we've got problems_

_And I don't think we can solve 'em_

_You made a really deep cut_

_And baby, now we've got bad blood, hey!_

At Tony’s part, both him and Steve began slowly moving in a circle in the space between the two teams as everyone else remained still. 

_Did you have to do this?_

_I was thinking that you could be trusted_

_Did you have to ruin what was shiny?_

_Now it's all rusted_

_Did you have to hit me where I'm weak?_

_Baby, I couldn't breathe_

_And rub it in so deep_

_Salt in the wound like you're laughing right at me_

After the chorus was finished, suddenly everyone moved, getting in each other’s faces as they all sang their feelings out, harmonizing with one another. 

_Oh, it's so sad to_

_Think about the good times_

_You and I_

All Penny could do was sit and watch as the sides “fought” in a battle only she could witness. Upon seeing how tense the sing-off was, Penny couldn’t help but feel worried for the _actual_ fight that was bound to take place after the song. 

_’Cause baby, now we've got bad blood_

_You know it used to be mad love_

_So take a look what you've done_

_’Cause baby, now we've got bad blood, hey!_

_Now we've got problems_

_And I don't think we can solve 'em_

_You made a really deep cut_

_And baby, now we've got bad blood, hey!_

As the song came to a close, all of the superheroes moved back to their original sides and spots, exactly as they had been before the song. 

“What do we do, Cap?” she heard Sam ask from the other side once the song was finished. 

“We fight.”

* * *

Tony wouldn’t tell her what happened in Siberia. 

Upon his return, Tony had offered Penny a real internship at Stark Industries, desperate to have someone to spend time with and protect, since he believed he’d failed at protecting Rhodey during the huge fight. 

Penny had gladly agreed, but couldn’t help but feel worried for the broken shell of a man he had become. 

But each day, the wounds of what happened at the airport and in Siberia healed the slightest bit, thanks to Penny and Rhodey (and eventually Pepper when she came back around from their “break”). 

But some days were still bad. 

It was one of her internship days and FRIDAY had directed her to Tony’s office at the Tower when she asked where the man was. As she moved through the room’s threshold, she heard the start of a slow, melodic song. 

_All this time I was wasting hoping you would come around_

_I've been giving out chances every time and all you do is let me down_

_And it's taken me this long, baby, but I've figured you out_

_And you're thinking we'll be fine again, but not this time around_

Penny felt her heart break as she listened to the somber lyrics while Tony sang, an old flip phone clutched tightly in his hand and a hand-written letter sitting on the desk next to him. 

_The Avengers must really like Taylor Swift,_ Penny amusedly thought to herself before shaking that thought away and focusing on her mentor’s depressing heartsong. 

_You don't have to call anymore_

_I won't pick up the phone_

_This is the last straw_

_Don't wanna hurt anymore_

_And you can tell me that you're sorry_

_But I don't believe you baby like I did before_

_You're not sorry (No no no no)_

_You're not sorry (No no no no)_

The music drifted off as Tony stopped singing, still honning all of his attention on the phone. 

Clearing her throat quietly as to not startle the unusually inattentive man, Penny hesitantly spoke, “Uh, hi, Mr. Stark. Sorry to bother you. Do, uh, do you want me to head home? You kind of look like you need some time alone.”

Quickly shaking his head at her inquiry, Tony dropped the phone next to the letter on his desk and stood up, making his way over to Penny at the door. “No, Pen, that’s okay. I’ve actually got some things to show you in the lab today.”

“Sounds good, Mr. Stark,” Penny said as the two made their way to the elevator that would take them to the lab. “And, uh, Mr. Stark?“ When she got a hum of acknowledgement from the man in question, Penny continued nervously, “I-I know I haven’t known you long and you probably don’t trust me very much yet, but I just want you to know that I’m h-here for you, like if you ever need to talk. I know it gets pretty lonely here sometimes, and please stop me if I’m overstepping, but you don’t have to be alone here. I’ve got your back, even if the other Avengers aren’t here anymore.” 

At seeing the surprised and slightly critical look on his face, Penny immediately flushed and began apologizing, “No, sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to overstep and get in your business and I understand if you want me to lea—.”

“Penny, Penny, breathe,” Tony assured as he rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, effectively cutting her off, “I’m not mad, Underoos. That’s a pretty selfless offer, kiddo, and I appreciate that. What I don’t understand is how you seem to know _exactly_ what’s going on in my head.” Huffing a little laugh, Tony continued, “I mean, seriously, did you like plant a bug in my head, kid? You knew I needed help back at your apartment and now you know that I’m down in the dumps about the Avengers? You got another superpower you’re hiding from me?” he finished in a sarcastic, joking manner. 

Letting out a _very_ nervous laugh, Penny confessed, “Well, uh, I don’t know if you’d call it a superpower.” Tony had ever so slowly turned his head towards her, an incredulous expression overtaking his face upon hearing her words. “I-I…um, well…I can sort of hear people’s innermost thoughts through songs and dances?”

Any hint of joking was wiped from his face at the end of her statement. Sensing that the two needed to talk, FRIDAY had taken it upon herself to stop the elevator as Tony stared at his superhero mentee. 

“I’m sorry, what?” Tony said, the pitch of his voice lowering but the volume increasing. 

Afraid of the rest of his reaction, Penny quickly, and nervously, continued, “It, uh, it’s some weird side effect of the spider bite, I guess? It doesn’t matter the person or the situation; if someone is feeling any deep, strong emotions, I’m able to know _exactly_ what they’re feeling because they’ll just break out in song right in front of me. And t-they always end up in the same place they started, almost as if no time has passed at all. And, uh, no one is aware of their singing. Only I seem to know what happened.” Penny couldn’t help but shrink into herself as Tony stared at her, face void of any emotion. 

They stand in silence for a solid two minutes before Tony takes a deep breath and begins saying, “You really weren’t kidding, kid. Well, um, alright. You’ve apparently got even _more_ superpowers, I guess.” As Tony finished his sentence with a laugh, Penny couldn’t help but relax, feeling grateful that Tony didn’t threaten to send her to a psychiatric hospital for the insane. “So, you…you heard me sing earlier? And that’s how you knew that something was wrong?”

“Yeah, you sang earlier in your office. I didn’t peg you for a Taylor Swift fan, Mr. Stark, but you were singing _You’re Not Sorry_. Not sure if you know the song well, but it’s _sad_ and it’s about loving and caring for a person who turned out to be the opposite of what they were expected to be. It’s kind of like being betrayed. So, um, I figured that the betrayal was about the Avengers, you know? And b-back at my apartment when we met, you sang _Help!_ by The Beatles after initially telling you that I couldn’t go with you to Germany. And I promised myself I’d always try to help whoever sang a song, so that’s why I trusted you and helped you in Germany. It’s also why I told you to talk to me whenever you needed because of your song in the office.” At the end of her long confession, Penny’s cheeks were bright red and she refused to look at her mentor in the eye, fearing he’d be mad at her for invading his privacy, even if she _literally_ couldn’t help hearing his innermost thoughts. 

“That’s a hell of a gift you’ve got, kiddo. And thank you for telling me. That took guts, Spiderling, and I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me about it.” At his words, Penny snapped her head up towards her mentor, surprised at the accepting tone of his words and the soft smile gracing his face. 

“Wow, um, thank you, Mr. Stark. You have _no idea_ how relieved I am to finally tell someone. Thanks for not, like, calling security on me or something,” Penny giggled at the end, hearing Tony’s deep laugh as she finished talking. 

“Well, how about we stop talking about our feelings for a little while and maybe watch a movie. I know you want to help me, but I promise, getting to spend time with my new favorite kid would be more than enough to help me. We can have lab day some other time, right? What do you say, kid?” Tony asked, throwing his arm around the small girl’s shoulders and bringing her into a side hug. 

“That sounds great, Mr. Stark. But please, _please_ no musicals. Lord knows I have enough music in my everyday life,” Penny laughed as Tony wholeheartedly agreed. 

And with that, the elevator moved once again and Penny couldn’t help but feel just a little bit grateful for her musical powers being the reason she and Tony could become closer. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know how you guys liked it! :)
> 
> And also, if anyone has watched the show, please don’t hesitate to tell me because I need someone to talk to about it besides my parents hahah!


	9. I is for Impromptu Visits and Icing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is about 3,500 words of pure, tooth-rotting fluff and I’m not sorry about it.
> 
> Also, I kind of screwed with the MCU timeline a little bit so in this story, Tony and Pepper are Penny’s biological parents and they met sometime in the 1990s, got married a little later on, and then had Penny in 2001. 
> 
> Anyways, all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoy!

Penny and Rhodey had a track record of getting into mischief whenever Tony and Pepper were away. 

They were like two peas in a pod. Rhodey was the first person to hold a newborn Penny, after Pepper and Tony of course. He was Penny’s all-time favorite uncle and the go-to babysitter for Penny when the parents were busy, whether it was something for Stark Industries or simply for a date night. Rhodey adored his niece more than anything and Penny loved him right back. 

But sometimes…sometimes the two were quite a handful to deal with. 

* * *

Tony and Pepper were set to attend a charity ball as the head figures of Stark Industries and had asked Rhodey to babysit a three-year-old Penny while they were gone for the entirety of the day and into the late evening. 

Rhodey, of course, had instantly agreed, never declining an opportunity to spend quality time with his adorable niece. 

So Rhodey had asked for time off of work and flew into New York the next morning on Tony’s private jet. 

“Where’s my favorite kid?” Rhodey called out that morning, stepping out of the elevator and into the living room of the Starks’ penthouse where JARVIS had told him the family was. 

The exact second Penny heard and recognized the voice, she loudly squealed, dropping the crayon in her hand, and sprinted to the elevator to greet her uncle. 

“Uncle Rhodey!” Penny exclaimed, throwing herself at the older man’s legs, causing him to stumble back slightly as he laughed. 

“There’s my Penny-pie. How’s my girl?” Rhodey asked, hoisting the small girl up and resting her on one of his hips. 

“Good, Uncle Rhodey! I’m coloring a picture! Wanna see?” Penny beamed, happy to be in the arms of her favorite person—aside from her parents. 

“I’d love to. Where are your parents, squirt?” Rhodey questioned, making his way to the coffee table in the living room while ruffling the girl’s honey brown hair. 

“In the kitchen, Honey Bear,” Tony called from the other room. Rhodey and Penny stopped to check out her drawings, Rhodey praising his niece for her top-notch work, before they made their way to the kitchen where Pepper and Tony were making breakfast. 

“Hi, Rhodey. Thank you again for coming on such short notice,” Pepper said as she moved to kiss the man’s cheek and tickle Penny’s sides, her melodic giggles causing all of the adults to fawn in adoration over the little girl. 

“It’s no problem, Pep. You know how much I love spending time with the little squirt,” Rhodey responded as he went to hug Tony, smiling even wider when Penny giggled louder at the nickname. 

“You sure you’re okay with Mommy and Daddy leaving for the night, lovebug?” Tony asked his daughter, bringing a hand up to softly brush her hair, an action that always made Penny coo—even as she got older. 

“Yeah, Daddy. I wanna play with Uncle Rhodey,” Penny said, batting her doe eyes up at her father. 

Tony gasped, feigning shock and hurt, before exclaiming, “You’re picking Rhodey over _me_? Can you believe this, Pepper? Betrayed by our own.” Penny proceeded to giggle even harder and bury her face in her uncle’s neck as Tony tickled his daughter in retaliation. 

“No, stop it, Daddy!” Penny squealed as she continued to giggle, letting the adults know that she really didn’t want the tickling to stop. 

“What’s the magic word?” Tony asked. 

“Uncle!” Penny exclaimed, knowing it was the wrong answer as she giggled harder. Only when Rhodey joined in on the tickle attack with the hand not supporting her did Penny finally exclaim, “Daddy’s the best!” Immediately, the tickling ceased and both men leaned in to give the little girl kisses on her pink cheeks. 

“Alright, alright,” Pepper spoke up, ever the mediator, “how about we sit down and eat breakfast before we need to leave for the day?”

“Yes, yes, pancakes!” Penny clapped as Tony dished up everyone’s plates. 

Breakfast was a pleasant affair. Penny happily munched on her pancakes and peaches, content to just listen to her favorite adults catch up with one another. 

Once everyone had finished their meals, Tony and Pepper went back to their room to get ready for the day-long ball as Penny and Rhodey retrieved a Lego set from the girl’s room and began assembling it on the living room floor. 

“Okay, princess,” Tony announced as he made his way to the living room, dressed to the nines in his expensive, fitted suit, “Mommy and I are about to leave for the day. You promise to look after your uncle while we’re gone?”

“I promise, Daddy. I’ll keep Uncle Rhodey safe for you and Mommy,” Penny tried to respond seriously, but the effect was lost as giggles escaped her. 

“You sure you’ve got her?” Tony asked Rhodey, moving to sit on the couch and pet his daughter’s hair. 

“I’ve got her, Tones. We’re gonna have tons of fun, right, Penny?” When Penny nodded at him with a smile, Rhodey continued, “You and Pepper go enjoy your night. Don’t worry about us.”

Tony scuffed before responding, “Can’t see how I can enjoy myself at a mandatory ball but thanks anyway.” At that moment, the sound of heels clicking on the tile floor grabbed the attention of everyone in the living room as Pepper joined them in the room, looking absolutely stunning in her deep red gown. 

Penny let out a rather loud gasp, causing the adults in the room to worriedly turn to the girl, before she fawned, “You look _beautiful,_ Mommy.”

“Like a queen?” Tony asked his daughter with a fond smile on his face. 

Eyes shining with wonder and awe, Penny answered, “Just like a queen.”

Pepper’s eyes began to water with affection for her kindhearted daughter as she moved around the couch and stood right in front of Penny. “Thank you, baby. I guess that makes you my little princess, huh?” 

Giggling as her mother lovingly pinched her cheeks, Penny whispered, “I’ll always be your princess, Mommy.” 

More tears threatened to escape Pepper’s eyes at her daughter’s words, but before she could let that happen, Tony clapped his hands and announced, “As much as I hate to say this, we’ve got to head out now, Pep. Are you absolutely sure you’re okay to watch her, Platypus?”

“For the last time, _yes_ , Tony. Squirt and I are going to have tons of fun without you. Now, _go_ before I have to kick you out myself.”

“Alright, we get it,” Tony laughed, holding his hands up in mock defense. “We love you, sweet Penny. Come give us kisses?” At his request, Penny hopped up from her spot on the floor, kissing and hugging her mom who was right in front of her before turning around to kiss and hug her dad sitting behind her on the couch. 

“Love you, Mommy. Love you, Daddy. Have fun!” Penny exclaimed, beaming at her parents and waving at them as they stepped into the elevator. 

Once Pepper and Tony had disappeared behind the metal elevator doors, Penny and Rhodey simply turned their attention back to their Lego set and happily worked together while chatting about anything and everything. 

With two sets of hands working on the enormous brick structure, they finished building the Lego in a little over three hours, which was four hours less than what it would usually take Penny on her own. Once finished, Rhodey turned his full attention to his niece and asked, “Well, kiddo, now that we’re done with that, what do you wanna do?”

Tapping her chin and humming, a mirror image of her father whenever he had to make a decision, she contemplated his words and answered, “Let’s see…I think we should eat some lunch and then watch _Hercules_ …a-and then we should bake some cupcakes for Mommy and Daddy to have when they get home!”

Smiling at his adorable niece’s suggestions, he nodded and agreed, “That sounds like a perfect idea, Lucky Penny. JARVIS, you mind pulling up _Hercules_ for us while we get lunch?”

_“Not at all, Colonel,”_ JARVIS responded, queuing the movie up on the living room’s large television as Rhodey picked Penny up, throwing her over his shoulder, and made his way to the kitchen with the squealing girl. 

Rhodey took his time making the two of them lunch, letting Penny help in whatever way she could, and by the time they finished preparing the lunch and eating it, an hour and a half had passed and they were ready for the movie. 

Having spent enough time with Penny in her short three years of life, Rhodey knew by now how much Penny adored the movie _Hercules_ and he could basically quote the entire movie thanks to the sheer amount of times he’d watched it with his niece. 

So they sang and danced along to the music and took turns quoting the lines of the movie, just enjoying the time they got to spend with each other. 

And when the movie was finished, Penny hopped up on the expensive couch and began jumping up and down, shouting about cupcakes. Rhodey simply laughed, grabbing her off of the couch before she could injure herself and gave her a piggy-back ride to the kitchen, relishing in the squeals of delight he elicited from the small girl. 

“Alright, Penny-pie,” Rhodey started, setting Penny down on the counter in front of him, “what kind of cupcakes are you thinking: lemon and strawberry, mint chocolate chip, peanut butter and chocolate? Any of those sound good?”

Again, humming and tapping her chin, Penny smiled up at her uncle before responding, “Let’s make…mint chocolate chip! Mommy loves mint and Daddy loves chocolate, so….”

Chuckling at her logic, Rhodey nodded and said, “Well, c’mon then, shortstack. Let’s make the best damn cupcakes in the world.” In response, Penny giggled and told him he said a no-no word, to which Rhodey quickly shushed her, laughing as the girl giggled harder. “JARVIS, pull up the best mint chocolate chip cupcakes recipe you can find. And maybe turn on some music while you’re at it.”

_“Of course, Colonel,”_ the AI politely responded, projecting a cupcake recipe on the nearest StarkPad and turning on some Billy Joel. 

“Thank you, JARVIS!” Penny called out loudly, eager to start baking with her uncle. 

_“You are very welcome, Little Boss,”_ JARVIS responded warmly, making the girl squeal in excitement at her nickname. 

“Gear up, little lady; it’s showtime.”

* * *

Sure, the idea of making cupcakes sounded nice…until Rhodey remembered that he couldn’t bake for shit and neither could Penny, given that she was a three-year-old child. 

So yeah, they had made a mess. Actually, scratch that, they had made a _colossal_ mess. 

Both Rhodey and Penny were covered head-to-toe in flour, every flat surface in the kitchen was littered with stray ingredients, and there was batter all over the place: on the kitchen walls, on the tile floor, and even on the tall ceiling above them. 

And they hadn’t even made the icing yet. 

“We, uh…I think we made a _little_ bit of a mess, Ink Pen,” Rhodey laughed nervously, regretting his decision of agreeing to Penny’s idea. 

“Are Mommy and Daddy gonna be mad?” Penny asked, worried that her parents would yell at Rhodey for the mess. 

“I don’t know, squirt. But if I had to guess…yeah, they might be a little mad,” Rhodey replies honestly, feeling bad when he saw the guilty look on the girl’s face. “But, we’re in too deep now, so let’s just pop these babies in the oven and get started on the icing, yeah?”

So they began working on the icing, making even more of a mess as the icing joined the stray batter littered on the walls, floor, and ceiling. 

And that’s exactly how Pepper and Tony found them when they arrived home early from the charity ball. 

“What the…hell did you do?” Tony asked incredulously, trying his hardest to hide his amusement at the sight in front of him, knowing Pepper would be pissed if he didn’t take this seriously. 

Both Rhodey and Penny jerked their heads up, looking exactly like two deers-in-the-headlights as they realized who exactly had entered the kitchen. 

“Uh…h-hey guys. How was the ball?” Rhodey causally questioned, playing it as cool as he could in front of his two best friends. 

Ignoring his question, Pepper continued to stare in shock at the state of her kitchen before speaking up, “What did you guys do to my kitchen?”

Preparing her puppy eyes and feigning innocence, Penny answered, “We were just trying to make you and Daddy some cupcakes, Mommy. Uncle Rhodey’s not every good at baking,” she finished, covering her mouth as she tried to hide her giggles. 

“They almost ready to eat?” Tony asked, ignoring the mess in favor of getting closer to the scent of the cupcakes. 

“We just took them out of the oven, so they still need to cool,” Rhodey explained, slapping Tony’s hand away as he tried to snatch an unfrosted cupcake. 

“Yeah, and we’re making icing, Daddy. Can’t forget the icing,” Penny said seriously, looking at her father in disappointment, as if he had personally wronged her for trying to eat one of the cupcakes without her homemade icing on top. 

Pepper remained frozen at the threshold of the kitchen, still not believing the sight in front of her. Upon seeing the state of his wife, Tony fondly sighed and told her, “We’ll clean this up, Pep. Why don’t you go ahead and change into your pajamas while we finish getting these things ready?” 

In response, Pepper simply nodded and made her way into the warzone that was the kitchen, dropping a kiss to all three of the occupants’ cheeks before making her way to the master suite. 

“Alright, gang,” Tony said, picking Penny up into his arms, twirling her around before continuing, “let’s get this cleaned up real fast so we can enjoy these cupcakes and not face the wrath of Pepper.”

At that, Penny giggled in Tony’s arms as the men smiled, moving to clean up the mess so they could enjoy the rest of the night. 

* * *

Turns out, even thirteen years later, Penny and Rhodey together were still just as mischievous and just as messy when baking in the kitchen with each other. 

It was a date night for Pepper and Tony, and even though Penny was extremely capable of being on her own for hours at a time, being Spidergirl and all, Tony still called Rhodey and asked him to watch over the young girl. 

Penny put up a fuss at first, telling her dad that she was more than okay to be by herself for a while, but quickly gave into Tony’s request; because even if she was a teenager and a very capable superhero now, Penny still never gave up the chance to spend one-on-one time with her—still—favorite uncle. 

With that, Tony had called his best friend, asking if he could come stay a couple days, and Rhodey eagerly agreed. So, Tony sent Rhodey his private jet and he was at the Tower early the next morning. 

Penny, Tony, and Pepper were sitting in the living room that morning, binge watching _Superstore_ on the TV when the elevator doors opened to reveal Rhodey. 

Before Rhodey could even get a word out, Penny had sprung out of her spot on the couch and sprinted over to her uncle, tackling him in a hug. 

“Well I see _someone’s_ happen to see me,” Rhodey said sarcastically as he shot a look towards Tony and Pepper still lounging on the couch. “Hey, squirt. How’s my favorite girl?” Rhodey ruffled the girl’s hair before lifting Penny up and slinging her over his shoulder, ignoring the strain in his back due to the added weight of the girl. 

Penny squealed and giggled in response to her uncle’s actions and the two made their way over to the couch, still grinning like idiots, before he plopped the girl into her dad’s lap, laughing even harder at the strained sound Tony made from the impact. 

“Hi, Rhodey. How have you been?” Pepper asked amusedly with a fond smile on her lips, used to her family’s silly antics. 

“I’m doing just fine, Pepper, thanks. And how are you guys doing?” Rhodey responded as he took a seat in the armchair next to the couch. 

“We’re good, Uncle Rhodey,” Penny piped up. “Mom and Dad have gotta hot date tonight,” Penny giggled, wiggling her eyebrows at her parents. 

Before either Pepper or Tony could defend themselves, Rhodey too wiggled his eyebrows and told her, “You bet they do. And we’re gonna have the time of our lives without them tonight, isn’t that right?”

“You betcha, Uncle Sourpatch,” Penny answered, moving to high-five her uncle. 

“Okay, okay, we get it. You guys are too cool for us,” Tony joked, rolling his eyes at his daughter and best friend. 

“Well, we’ve got a few hours to kill before our reservation. Why don’t we go out for lunch and then come back to watch a movie?” Pepper suggested. 

Once everyone nodded in agreement, they all got up from the couch to change into more presentable clothes and headed out for lunch. 

* * *

They spent hours at lunch and then some more just walking around the city, careful to avoid any paparazzi or large crowds. 

And then they went home, they watched a movie before Tony and Pepper had to get up to change once more for their reservation at the high-end Italian restaurant they loved. As they changed, Rhodey and Penny got out a deck of cards and began playing an intense game of Egyptian Ratscrew. 

“Alright, lovebug, we’re heading out. You guys will be okay?” Tony asked as he stepped into the living room, dressed for dinner. 

“Quite worrying, old man. This isn’t my first rodeo,” Rhodey snarked at Tony before Penny could respond, causing her to laugh and Tony to fondly roll his eyes. 

“Fine…whatever, platypus. You gonna come say bye to your _old man_ , princess?” Tony responded as Pepper emerged from the bedroom with her purse and jacket in hand. 

Giggling quietly, Penny set her cards down on the table, before making her way to her parents and giving them hugs and kisses. “Love you guys. Have fun for me, okay?”

“We will, sweetheart. Be good for Rhodey,” Pepper assured as they waved to Rhodey and made their way to the elevator. 

“C’mon, kid. Let me finish kicking your butt in this game.”

* * *

Penny ended up winning the game, much to Rhodey’s chagrin. 

“Damnit, kid. I taught you well…almost _too well_ ,” Rhodey griped as Penny smiled, feeling accomplished. “What do you wanna do now?”

Rhodey knew the second he saw the mischievous glint in Penny’s eyes that he was in trouble. “Let’s remake those cupcakes again. You know, the mint chocolate chip cupcakes we made years ago when Dad secretly called in the cleaning crew to clean up the mess? I don’t think Mom ever found out about that, you know,” Penny finished with a laugh. 

Sighing, but giving in, Rhodey agreed, “Alright, Penny-pie. We’ll try this again but we have to _try_ not to make as big of a mess as last time, okay? Otherwise Pepper will have my head.”

“Deal,” Penny giggled, bringing her hand up for her uncle to shake before bouncing her way to the kitchen in excitement, Rhodey following closely behind her. 

* * *

So…their second try at the whole baking shtick went just as well as the first, meaning not well _at all._

They’d made an even bigger batch this time because Penny wanted to give some to Happy and her friends Ned and MJ, which meant even _more_ batter was splattered over the kitchen this time around. 

And the icing wasn’t any better. 

“They’re going to kill us,” Penny remarked as she stared at the mess they had made. 

“Yeah, we’re dead,” Rhodey answered, looking around in horror at the state of the kitchen. 

“Okay…w-well we can try to start cleaning up? That way, even if they come home in a little bit, it won’t be _quite_ as bad as it is now.”

“Yeah…yeah, good idea, squirt. You start with the counters and I’ll start with the floor and walls,” Rhodey agreed. 

It was a solid plan, except for the fact that Tony and Pepper walked out of the elevator six seconds later. 

“Oh, jeez,” Tony moaned in exasperation, “not this again.”

Penny and Rhodey slowly turned to look at each other and maintained their eye contact for a couple of long seconds before both sprinting out of the kitchen at the same time, whizzing right past Tony and Pepper. 

“Uh, gotta go. Love you, bye,” Penny quickly called out as she and Rhodey practically dove into the empty elevator, kindly but urgently ordering FRIDAY to shut the doors as fast as possible. 

Tony and Pepper stayed frozen in shock. 

They stood in silence for about three minutes, continuously looking between the elevator, the kitchen, and each other. 

Breaking the shocked silence, Tony huffed in exasperation and said, “I guess some things never change.” He then gently kissed his wife’s forehead and made his way to their abomination of a kitchen, shaking his head and laughing fondly at the mess his daughter and best friend made together. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick shoutout to my dear friend Mia for helping me sort out some of the story’s details! You’re the best!
> 
> Anyways, let me know if you guys liked it! I always look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments! :)


	10. J is for Jammies and Juice Boxes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another kid Penny Parker chapter because she’s a lot of fun to write as a toddler! And this chapter is set a little while after CA:CW but the fight never happened and Tony had already known about his parents death for years (but that isn’t important to the story).
> 
> Huge shoutout to my pal Mia for essentially coming up with the basic plot for this and helping me sort of a lot of the details! You’re the best!
> 
> Anyways, all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoy!

Tony had been a little nervous to leave Penny in the care of the Avengers while he was away for an emergency Stark Industries board meeting overseas. 

He had just signed the official papers to adopt Penny—it’d been almost a year since the unexpected death of her aunt, and while Penny still missed her every day, she was incredibly happy to be in the care of Tony—and was more than ready to take even _more_ time off of work to spend some quality time with his official daughter. 

Well, that _had_ been the plan, before he got a frantic call from Pepper telling him he needed to hop on his jet and fly to London for a critical company meeting. 

And so he did as he was told and left, making Steve promise to be just as responsible as always and take care of Penny for him while he was gone. 

But of all the things he expected to see when he returned from his four-day trip, never in a million years would he have imagined walking into the living room to the sight of the great Captain America holding a three-year-old, diaper-clad and crying Penny Parker in his arms while the rest of the Avengers looked about two seconds away from having meltdowns.

It was safe to say that it had been fair for Tony to be nervous about leaving Penny with the Avengers. 

* * *

It was weird for Penny to be alone with the Avengers without Tony anywhere near. But his meeting had been an emergency and Penny was more than fine to be left in the care of the Avengers. 

They’d been having fun. 

Steve had been teaching her some of his mother’s favorite recipes. 

Clint, Bucky, and Sam had spent hours playing Wii games with her. 

Bruce had been more than willing to spend time in the lab with her. 

Natasha had been teaching her how to curl her hair and paint little designs on her nails—because even if Natasha was a super spy and assassin, she still loved to indulge in her girly side from time to time. 

Rhodey had even stopped by for a few hours on the second day to take her out for dinner at his favorite diner and ice cream afterwards. 

But down-time was never a real concept for the Avengers and the morning of the day when Tony was due back in town, they’d been called to assemble and fight a rogue wizard on the loose. 

They started the fight with a sixteen-year-old Spidergirl swinging around, fighting the wizard and ended it with a crying, three-year-old Penny cradled in Steve’s arms. 

So, yeah…mission not-so successful. 

Immediately after they had extracted the wizard, Steve raced back to the Tower as fast as his super soldier legs could go and took the crying girl straight to Bruce, not quite caring that Bruce wasn’t _that_ kind of doctor. 

Penny didn’t stop crying, even through the examination. Bruce tried to work as quickly as possible, and told him that the spell wasn’t temporary—cue the sigh of relief from Steve—and that it would only last a couple of hours. 

So, feeling the slightest bit better about the situation, Steve picked up the wailing girl and brought her up to the Avenger’s level of the Tower where he knew the rest of the team would be. 

Upon hearing the sobs from Penny, the rest of the superheroes tensed and made faces of concern, but it wasn’t as if anyone knew what to do to help the girl. 

They’d asked FRIDAY for tips on how to calm her down—which included changing her and putting her in a diaper (because it was better to be safe than sorry and Clint had a spare one in his room from his kids), feeding her, reading her a few books, putting her down for a nap, and many more ideas—but their efforts were futile and every single person in the room was about ready to have a breakdown right then and there. 

But just as Penny’s cries grew to the loudest volume of the day, the elevator opened to reveal Tony, clad in a designer suit, sunglasses, and an expression of pure horror as he took in the scene in front of him. 

“What the…what the _hell_ happened here?” Tony inquired incredulously, eyes darting to every person in the room as he tried to dissect the sight before his eyes. 

The moment Tony spoke, it was like a switch was flipped inside Penny; she immediately quieted her sobs to a soft whimper and turned in the direction of her adoptive father, making grabby hands at him as he approached slowly. 

The second Tony was close enough to the pair, Penny leaped out of Steve’s arms, much like the spider she was,—scaring every adult in the room—and landed in Tony’s arms where she buried her face in the crook of his neck and clinged to him tightly. 

“Wizards, man. It’s always the wizards,” Clint muttered, answering Tony’s initial question. 

Seeing as though Penny was safely snuggled in Tony’s arms and was finally calm for the first time since her transformation, all the Avengers quickly—and quietly—retreated to their rooms, leaving only Steve, Tony, and Penny in the living room. 

“I…is she okay?” Tony asked quietly, hugging the toddler closer to his chest and kissing the top of her head tenderly. 

“She’s okay, Tony,” Steve assured calmly. “I caught her fall after she was hit by the spell and took her straight to Bruce. He looked her over and said that the spell should only last a couple of hours, thank goodness. B-but she’s been crying nonstop and we tried everything we could think of—you can ask FRIDAY—but nothing seemed to work and the crying got worse as we went.”

Blowing out a deep breath, Tony nodded and said in earnest, “Well, thank you.”

“You really shouldn’t thank me, Tony. Nothing I did helped,” Steve responded, insecurity and self-doubt creeping into his tone and body language. 

“You did help. I promise,” Tony answered, throwing Steve a soft smile, which the soldier returned, before moving his gaze to his daughter. 

“Penny?” Tony softly crooned, bringing one of his callused hands up to gently scratch her back. 

“Daddy?” Penny sniffed, moving her face from his neck to look up at him with her enormous, tear-filled doe-eyes. 

Tony’s heart almost stopped then and there, both at the name and the sight of her tear-stained cheeks. “Hi, baby. You got yourself into quite a mess, didn’t you?” Tony asked before lightly tickling her side, causing a wet giggle to escape the little girl as she hid her face back into the confines of his neck. At her actions, Tony’s face broke out into a soft, adoring smile as he began to sway her in his arms and scratch her back once more. 

All Steve could do was stand frozen in his place, watching the interaction between the newly-established father and daughter with such awe and fascination. If you would have asked Steve if Tony would have been a capable father back when he first met the eccentric billionaire, he could have kindly laughed in your face. But now…now Steve could only watch in astonishment while Tony nurtured the little girl as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Tony had always been gentle and fatherly with sixteen-year-old Penny, but it increased tenfold with three-year-old Penny. 

Even after years of knowing the man, Tony never ceased to amaze and surprise Steve. 

He was broken out of his thoughts by Tony’s voice. 

“Alright, FRI, can you place an order for anything a toddler might need and have it delivered as soon as possible? I don’t know how long she’s gonna be like this so don’t go too overboard.” He pauses in thought for a moment before continuing, “Hold off on the crib though. I don't want her to sleep all alone while she’s like this.”

“ _Certainly, boss_ ,” FRIDAY responded softly, seemingly aware of the now-sleepy girl in Tony’s arms. 

“Hey, Pen? You wanna eat lunch or nap first?” Tony questioned, placing a loving kiss to her mop of curls as he continued to scratch her back. 

“Hungry,” Penny answered quietly, picking her head up and looking at Steve, who was still standing in front of them, and then at Tony. 

“Sounds good, lovebug. Any idea what you want?” Tony asked as he carried Penny across the living room and into the kitchen. 

“Grilled cheese a-and peaches,” Penny replied, looking up at Tony with her toothy grin and puppy-dog eyes, seemingly more awake now. 

“Penny, you know who makes the world’s _best_ grilled cheese sandwich?” Tony whispered loudly for effect. When Penny just giggled and shook her head, Tony pointed at Steve, who was still standing where they left him in the living room, and answered his own question, “Your Uncle Stevie over there. You think we should bat our eyes at him and pout so he’ll make us a few sandwiches while we sit and watch him?”

At Tony’s suggestion, Steve couldn’t help but let out a fond laugh, shaking his head and making his way over to the giggling father-daughter duo. Rolling his eyes in mock-exasperation, Steve huffed, “You two and your damn puppy eyes.”

Upon hearing Steve curse, Tony gasped louder than necessary and dramatically clamped his free hand over one of Penny ears as she continued giggling like a maniac. “Did the great Captain America just _swear_? In front of a _child_ no less?”

Steve just continued rolling his eyes in exasperation and laughing lightly, smiling ever wider as she watched Penny turn red in the face from giggling so much. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just sit down while I slave away in this kitchen making you two food.”

With that, Tony plopped down on a bar stool at the kitchen island, propping little Penny up onto the countertop as he gave her a victory high-five and mock-whispered, “Nice job, kiddo. Maybe we can sweet talk him into making dinner for us, too.” As Steve turned around and gave him a look, Tony just winked before shifting his attention back to Penny, who was enthusiastically clapping her hands at Tony’s suggestion. 

They spent the next few minutes in relative silence, save for the low sizzle of buttered bread on the hot pan, the occasional noise from Penny as she watched Steve work, Tony’s low humming, and the sound of skin behind lightly scratched as Tony played with Penny’s soft curls. 

In no time, Steve finished cooking their sandwiches and cutting Penny’s requested peaches. He then plated the food, delivering the two plates to his waiting customers and pulling out one of Clint’s juice boxes from the fridge to give to Penny before sitting down in the seat next to Tony. 

“Juice box for milady,” Steve announced in an overly posh voice, making the little girl break out into another fit of giggles as Tony gratefully accepted the drink for her. 

“Thank you, Steve. For the sandwiches and the juice box,” Tony kindly expressed, smiling fondly at his exceedingly selfless friend. 

“Of course, Tony. Anything for Princess Peach over there,” Steve assured, reaching towards Penny, who was eating on top of the counter, and tickling her round belly. He smiled widely as she giggled and tried to squirm out of his reach. 

The rest of lunch passed by quickly as Penny greedily scarfed down her delicious grilled cheese and peaches whilst happily sipping her juice box. 

As she finished her food, Penny’s eyes started to droop closed in exhaustion and she began sleepily swaying while sitting up, causing Tony to scoop her up into his arms before she could tip over and hit her head on the marble countertop. 

“Someone getting sleepy?” Tony crooned as Penny’s head dropped into his shoulder. When he felt her nod, Tony simply smiled and stood up from his seat, collecting his and Penny’s plates to put in the sink before moving to throw away the finished juice box. 

“Well, Cap,” Tony said in a quiet voice, “I haven’t slept in about three days and jetlag is no joke so Pen and I are gonna hit the hay for a little while. Thank you again for lunch.”

“It’s no problem, Tony. And I’m sorry about everything that happened. I promise everything was going fine while you were gone, up until she got hit,” Steve vowed, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. 

“I trust you, Cap. Thanks for taking care of her anyway,” Tony replied, smiling gratefully at him before heading to the elevator and making his way up to his floor. 

* * *

Penny and Tony napped until about 5 o’clock in the evening when Penny woke him up to go to the bathroom. 

Thank goodness she was potty trained. 

“Let’s get some clothes on you, kiddo,” Tony said to Penny as she exited the bathroom in her still-dry diaper. 

“ _Sir, your order has been delivered and brought up to your floor by the Captain,_ ” FRIDAY pipped up as they were exiting Tony’s room. 

“Perfect, FRI. Thanks.” As the two entered the girl’s room, they saw Steve sitting on the floor, sorting through a huge pile of toddler clothes. Upon hearing their footsteps, Steve craned his neck around to look at them and smile before continuing with his task. 

“Alright, lovebug. Go sit next to Steve and pick out something to wear,” Tony tells the little girl before leading the girl over to Steve and moving to sit on her teenage-self’s queen bed, covered with a Disney-themed comforter and an Iron Man plushie sitting against her pillows. 

Tony watched with amusement as Penny used one of her hands to twirl her already curly hair and the other to touch every single outfit in front of her as she made the _very_ important decision. He heard Steve softly sniggering at the seriousness on Penny’s face as she looked through her unnecessarily large selection of clothes to choose from. 

After a couple minutes of contemplation, Penny finally decided on an Iron Man themed pajama set, picking it up and holding it in front of her as she proudly showed Tony and Steve her selection. 

Both men laughed fondly at her choice before Tony beckoned Penny over to him so he could help her get dressed. “You picked _jammies_? It’s not even bedtime yet,” Tony dramatically inquired as he tickled her sides. 

“Iron Man,” Penny pointed out, giggling proudly as she looked between Tony and Steve. 

“You’re _so lucky_ , Princess Peach. I’ve _always_ wanted my own pair of Iron Man jammies,” Steve gushed dramatically as he fawned over the girl’s outfit of choice, much to her utter delight. 

Tony let out a resounding laugh at his words and Penny giggled louder before he quickly got her dressed in her pajama outfit. 

“Well, baby girl, I think we’re all set. You wanna go to the Avengers’ floor and see everyone?” When Penny nodded and clapped, Tony stood up from the bed and picked Penny up, throwing her over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. As she squealed in excitement from her spot across his shoulders, Tony quickly rushed out of her room and zoomed towards the elevator, listening to the deep laughs of Steve behind him and the giggles and squeals of his daughter above him. 

* * *

The Avengers residing in the communal living room were greeted by the sounds of high-pitched giggles and low laughs as the elevator doors opened to reveal Tony, Penny, and Steve. 

Upon seeing the happy state of the toddler, the rest of the team let out a collective sigh of relief; they all loved Penny dearly, but there was only so much crying one could take before they started going crazy. 

“Say hi to everyone, Pen,” Tony said to Penny as he moved her from his hold across his shoulders and onto the floor as they made their way out of the elevator and into the room. 

“Hi,” Penny sweetly greeted, “look at my jammies.” Everyone in the room then turned to look at the little girl proudly showing off her outfit and collectively melted at the sight of Penny in her Iron Man pajamas. 

“Oh my goodness, Penny. Is that Iron Man?” Natasha gasped in dramatized awe, causing the little girl to nod happily and smile toothily at the occupants of the room. 

“Yep! It’s Daddy,” Penny replied proudly, looking at Tony with such joy and adoration that Tony let out an audible coo and crouched down to give his daughter a sloppy kiss on the cheek. 

“What are you guys up to?” Steve questioned as he watched the affection display between Tony and Penny in front of him. 

“We just got back from our mission debrief—don’t worry, we covered you since you were taking care of Penny—and now we’re trying to decide if we should order takeout for dinner or convince you to cook for us,” Sam replied, smiling cheekily at Steve by the end of his answer. Everyone knew that Steve was the best cook out of everyone and they regularly guilt-tripped him into cooking them meals. He put up a fuss as a front, but everyone knew he secretly loved getting to put his mother’s recipes to good use. 

“Oh, don’t worry. Penny’ll just flash Rogers the ole’ puppy dog eyes and he’ll be cooking in the kitchen before you know it,” Tony joked as he poked Penny’s stomach, eliciting a giggle from her. “Penny-pie, you want Uncle Steve over there to make us some yummy dinner?”

Penny gasped at the mention of food and quickly made her way back to Steve, bumping into his broad legs and hugging them as she babbled, “Please, please, please, can you make us dinner, Uncle Steve? My grilled cheese was _so_ good today,” She finished her statement by batting her doe-eyes at him to seal the deal. 

Laughing at the girl’s enthusiasm, he bent down, grabbed the girl by her stubby legs and picked her up, causing the girl to flip upside in the air by Steve’s hold. Penny began giggling like a maniac as she looked around the room from her new vantage point, causing the other adults in the room to laugh along with her. 

After a couple of fun seconds, Steve moved the hand that wasn’t holding Penny up and shifted it onto her back before pushing her up so she could rest on one of his hips. 

“Fine,” Steve whined in mock-exasperation as Penny clapped, red in the face from being upside down, “is there something specific you want, Princess Peach?”

At his question, Penny—for the second time that day—brought a hand up to her hair and started twirling it around her fingers as she contemplated her answer. “Spaghetti!” Penny cheered, letting go of her hair and clapping her hands once more with a proud smile on her face. 

“Well, we know she’s Tony’s,” Bucky joked as Tony beamed in pride at his daughter’s choice of a meal. 

“But,” Penny spoke up once again, looking at everyone with a serious expression, “if you want any spaghetti, you gotta wear your jammies. No jammies, no spaghetti.”

Everyone just smiled and chuckled at Penny’s demands as Tony piped up, “Well, you heard the boss. Everyone go change into your jammies if you want to eat.”

And with that, their team members amusedly got up and left to go to their rooms and change, save for Steve, who was still holding Penny, and Tony. 

“I know you’re cooking, Cap, but princess over there has strict orders that must be obeyed under all circumstances,” Tony explained in mock-seriousness as Penny nodded and tried to hide a giggle behind her hand. 

“Whatever you say, Princess Peach. But first, how about you tell your Dad to go up and change while you and I get dinner started?” Steve suggested, bouncing Penny lightly in his arms. 

“Yeah, daddy. Go get your jammies on while I drink my juice box,” Penny told Tony, causing him to laugh and turn around and head to the elevator without another word. 

The last thing he heard before the elevator doors closed was Steve amusedly asking, “Now, hold on a second. Who said anything about a juice box?” Penny just giggled for an answer. 

* * *

True to her word, Penny made sure that everyone was wearing their pajamas before carefully handing them a plate of spaghetti with a side of caesar salad and garlic bread. 

She also made sure that everyone got their own juice box, to which Clint grumbled something about kids always talking the good stuff. 

Dinner was an entertaining affair. Penny was the life of the party, of course. She happily yapped and munched as everyone listened to her and ate their own food. Surprisingly, Penny managed to avoid getting any spaghetti sauce on her pajamas which meant she would be able to wear her precious Iron Man jammies to bed. 

Tony announced to the group of superheroes that Penny would need a quick bath and then they could all sit down and watch a movie, which everyone happily agreed to. Steve offered up his bathtub for Tony to wash Penny in so they wouldn’t have to keep going from floor to floor. Of course, Penny couldn’t be more than three seconds away from Tony or Steve apparently so she sweetly asked if Steve could come help her in the bath, and who could say no to that?

Bubble beards were formed, hair was washed, fun was had, and suddenly bath time was over and Penny was being wrapped in one of Steve’s humongous, fluffy towels. The two men quickly got her dressed back into her jammies and then they headed back out to the living room where all of the other Avengers were already waiting. 

As Tony made his way towards one of the empty couches, Penny in his arms, Steve diverted his direction back to the kitchen, where he fetched Penny’s half-finished juice box from dinner and made his way back to the living room, handing it back to the girl before sitting right next to her and Tony. 

And with her juice box, her jammies, and her family, Penny drifted off into a dream-filled slumber surrounded by the people she loved most. 

* * *

Penny changed backed into her teenage-self at breakfast the next morning. 

Steve, with “help” from Penny, made delicious crepes for the team on the Avengers’ floor and Penny sat at the table in between Steve and Tony. 

She was just happily chomping on her strawberry and whipped cream covered crepe with a juice box on the side when, in the blink of an eye, she sprouted back to regular size, in her Iron Man jammies and all. 

All the team stared at the once again sixteen-year-old girl as she looked from her crepes, her juice box, her pajamas, and her family around her before casually shrugging and digging back into her food. Everyone around her laughed lightly at the girl in front of them, more than relieved that she was finally back to normal. 

* * *

She kept her Iron Man jammies even though she wasn’t a toddler anymore. They were her new favorites from then on. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve never written Steve as in-depth before and I actually really enjoyed it!! And I’m sorry for not including Thor, Wanda, or Vision; to me, they seem a little more difficult to write than the others (especially Thor because of the way he talks) and given that I wrote this late at night, I didn’t have the brainpower to do their characters justice! 
> 
> But, nevertheless, I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. I’d loved to know what you thought about it; comments are always appreciated!! :)


	11. K is for Knuckles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Huge thank you to EmmaElsa0000, my wonderful beta reader, for proofreading this when I didn’t feel like it lol!
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

Tony was in the middle of an important Stark Industries meeting when Penny arrived at the Tower for lab day. 

Tony had texted Penny early in the morning—before she would be leaving for school— to tell her that he would be late for the lab, but Penny told him not to worry and that she’d be fine on her own for a little while. 

Tony wasn’t worried about leaving her on her own in the Tower; she had high clearance at the and access to every room, including Tony’s lab. 

Which was why Tony was confused when he didn’t find Penny there after his meeting had finished. 

“FRI, where’s the kid?” Tony bemusedly asked as he exited the lab. This hadn’t been the first time Tony was late to lab day because of a meeting, but this _was_ the first time that Tony came back from the meeting and Penny wasn’t in the lab waiting for him. 

_“She appears to be in the training room, Boss,”_ FRIDAY responded before pausing for a moment. _“I suggest checking up on her. She is not taking care of herself.”_

Tony’s blood ran cold at FRIDAY’s words and he was already racing towards the elevator before he could ask what exactly FRIDAY meant. 

The elevator moved entirely too slow for Tony’s liking, but eventually, it stopped on the floor that held the training room and he was sprinting towards the room before the metal doors of the elevator could fully open. 

When Tony fully entered the gym, he noticed Penny standing in the corner, violently punching a reinforced punching bag. 

As he inched closer and closer to the girl, he noticed two things: the red blood stains both on the punching bag and seeping through the poorly-wrapped gauzes on her knuckles, and that she was crying _heavily._

It said a lot about how out-of-it Penny was when she didn’t pick up his footsteps with her enhanced hearing and contained her attack on the bag instead. 

“Penny?” Tony called out, doing his best to not startle the unusually inattentive girl. His efforts were futile though, given how much Penny jumped in her spot upon hearing his voice. 

“Mr-Mr. Stark, s-sorry. Didn’t hear you come in,” Penny confesses sheepishly, trying her hardest to hide her tear-stained face and blood-soaked knuckles from his view. 

Unfortunately for her—and fortunately for him—, Tony had already seen her face and knuckles and quickly moved over to her, pulling her away from the punching bag and onto the nearest bench. 

“Honey…” Tony whispered in horror at her busted knuckles, “why’d you do this to yourself?” When she stayed quiet, he moved a couple feet away to grab the first aid kit and then made his way back to the girl. 

As Tony began gently cleaning the blood off of her hands, Penny finally spoke up, “I…I didn’t realize how bad they were,” referring to her mangled hands. 

“You know you can talk to me, right? I never get carried away like that, so I know something must’ve happened earlier today,” Tony explained in a soft, parental tone as Penny continued to stare dejectedly at her hands. “You don’t have to tell me, but I’d really like to help you if I can.”

“It’s just…today just _sucked,_ Mr. Stark,” Penny confesses, tears evident in her voice. “May’s been really busy at work lately so I’m barely seeing her, the hot water shut off in the whole building this morning, I s-stepped on a piece of chewed up gum on the way to the subway, and then the subway was late which meant I was late to school.” She took a shaky breath after letting out a sob, looking up at Tony as he both wrapped her knuckles in clean gauzes and listened to her words before continuing, “And then at school, I realized I-I had a test I forgot to study for, Ned was homesick and MJ attended a protest instead of school, I didn’t h-have enough money in my school account to buy lunch, Flash and h-his goons wouldn’t leave him alone,” her voice breaking when she mentioned Flash, “and then I had an anxiety attack in t-the bathroom instead of participating in gym. S-So, while you were still in your meeting, I came in here to blow off some s-steam…a-and I guess I got a little too carried away.”

“Hey, hey, listen to me Penny,” Tony crooned as Penny started to apologize while still sobbing. When his words failed to register to her, Tony swiftly pulled Penny into his arms for a hug, not caring in the slightest about the snot and tears Penny was getting on his expensive suit after she crashed her head onto his shoulder. “Why didn’t you call me for help, Penny? You could’ve spent the night here since May’s been working a lot and your hot water’s down, Happy could’ve driven you to school if you’d have asked, I could’ve sent you lunch money or brought you a lunch so you weren’t starved, or I could’ve picked you up from school early so you didn’t have to deal with the test or Flash or the anxiety attack in gym.” 

Penny’s sobs had quieted as she listened to his words, so he took that as a good sign and continued, “You’ve gotta believe me when I tell you that you’re my kid, Penny. I want to be there for you when dealing with things outside of just Spidergirl and intern stuff. I don’t want you beating yourself—or in this case, beating your knuckles up—when things go wrong, especially considered I could’ve helped you deal with most of the problems you had today. Just trust me, Penny. I’m in your corner, kiddo.”

Penny had started crying again by the end of his little speech, this time from gratefulness and appreciation instead of anger and sadness. 

“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” Penny whispered, bringing her head off of his shoulder to look him in the eyes. “I love you.”

Tony swore his heart melted then and there at those three little words. “I love you too, honey. Don’t ever forget that.”

In response, Penny beamed at him—even with tears still streaming from her eyes—and moved back in to hug him. 

They stayed in their places, hugging each other for a few long minutes before Tony quietly spoke up, “How about this? If you can promise me that you’ll talk to me next time you need help, we can take a rest from the lab today to let your knuckles heal and I can make you one of my mother’s famous pasta dishes and eat it while we watch TV on the couch. That sound good?”

“That sounds good, Mr. Stark,” Penny said with a little laugh. “And I promise to tell you next time I need help.”

With that, Tony clapped his hands and stood up, beckoning Penny to stand up from the bench so he could pull her into a side hug as they walked out of the gym and towards the elevator. 

“Also, we’re _so_ watching the second _Princess Diaries_ and you’re not allowed to complain,” Penny admitted, laughing loudly as Tony groaned miserably. 

* * *

They did end up watching the second _Princess Diaries_ , but Tony couldn’t find it in himself to complain when he saw the big smile stuck on her face as she ate her plate spaghetti carbonara and watched the movie, nestled under his welcoming arm. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! And let me know what you guys thought :)


	12. L is for Lovestruck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Sorry for the little break I took from this; I started a fic for another fandom because I started to feel boxed in with this and I’ve also been pretty busy this week!
> 
> Anyways, shoutout to my best reader EmmaElsa0000 for all of her help and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Tony had noticed something different about Penny in the last couple of weeks. 

Penny was generally a happy girl, always smiling at people and getting excited about little things, but lately, Penny seemed to be off in her own world, always wearing a small, gleefully smile and sighing blissfully when she thought no one was listening, looking extremely content and happy. 

But Tony was watching and listening, and he couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was causing his favorite kid’s constant good mood. 

She was so far off in her la la land one day that she didn’t even notice her phone ringing on one of the lab tables, even with her usually enhanced hearing. 

“Penny?” Tony called out, trying to get the girl’s attention so she could answer the phone. When she continued to distractedly hum and work on a prototype for her new web shooters, Tony stood up from his work station and made his way to the work table that housed her buzzing phone. 

Let the record show that Tony never tried to snoop when it came to Penny’s personal life. Sure, he snooped a little when trying to figure out the identity of Spidergirl but the only reason he knew so much about Penny, away from the superhero, was because she’d told him about her life all the time. 

So no, Tony wasn’t trying to snoop, but the person trying to talk to Penny kept calling over and over to get an answer and Penny was too distracted to notice, leaving Tony to check and see who it was. 

Tony prided himself on knowing a lot about Penny because they’d grown so close in the recent years, but absolutely _nothing_ could’ve prepared him for the person on the phone. 

It was Harry _fucking_ Osborn. 

Reading that name and seeing his face on the contact picture was like an unexpected punch to the gut. 

Penny was talking to the son of the one of the _worst_ fucking people on the planet?

As much as he wanted to answer the phone and question the boy, Tony didn’t want to lose Penny’s trust in him, so we picked up the buzzing phone and made his way to Penny’s workstation and tapped her on there shoulder. 

“Hey, kid? Harry’s calling you,” Tony said calmly, promising himself he would listen to her explanations about Harry. 

“Oh, Harry’s calling…” Penny said distractedly, still fiddling with her web shooters, before the words seemed to register and her head snapped up, gaze meeting Tony’s as her eyes widened comically, “Harry’s calling?” 

“Please answer, kid. Damn thing’s been buzzing for forever,” Tony answered, somewhat amused by her slightly panicked expression. 

“I…uh, okay. Just give a sec,” Penny responded, hesitantly standing up from her workstation and looking still she would rather be anywhere else. 

Penny really only talked with him for a minute before she made her way back to her station, avoiding eye contact with Tony. 

But Tony wasn’t going to drop the topic. 

“So…” Tony started, picking up a tool and spinning it in his hands as he looked at his mentee, “Harry Osborn, huh? How’d that happen?”

Penny stayed quiet for a minute before seeming to lose a battle within herself, making her sign and say, “He…he transferred to Midtown three months ago. I was dropping something off for a teacher in the front office when I saw him talking with Principal Morita with a class schedule in hand. Before I could leave and go back to class, Principal Morita called me over and asked me to show him around the school, promising to excuse me from class so that I could help Harry. We got to know each other while I was his tour guide and he got along with Ned and MJ so we’ve gotten really close.” She took a deep breath and hesitated before quietly mumbling, “He asked me out last month and we’ve been going on dates ever since.”

When Tony stayed silent after she finished her story, Penny began to panic even more and quickly rambled, “Please don’t be mad. I just know how much you hate his dad and I didn’t want you to get mad because I was hanging out with him so I didn’t tell you and I’m sorry. But I’ve been wanting you to meet him because he’s nothing like his dad and I think you guys would actually get along if you gave him the chance.”

Instantly, Tony’s face softened and he smiled at the worried girl before moving to hug her. “It’s okay, Penny. I’m not mad.” When Penny looked up at him with an unbelieving, incredulous look on his face, he continued, “Well, I’m not _that_ mad. I think I’m more upset that you felt you couldn’t tell him about him, even if he’s Norman’s son. I’m sorry you felt that way, Pen. You have to know: you can tell me anything, Underoos; it doesn't matter if it’s something to do with Spidergirl or your friends or even a boy you like.” At the end of his sentence, Penny began to heavily blush, causing Tony to snicker and tighten his hold on her. “Are you happy, Pen?”

His question caused a fond, lovestruck expression to pass over her face as she smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I-I’m _really_ happy, Mr. Stark. He…Harry just brings out the best in me, I don’t know. I’m just the happiest I’ve ever been.” She started to tear up a little, but Tony just smiled at her and encouraged her to continue, “I’ve got the best friends in the world, my aunt and I are closer than ever, I have a boyfriend for the first time ever and he’s amazing, and I’ve got you in my corner all the time. So yeah, I’m happy, Mr. Stark.”

Abundantly happy for his mentee, he smiled widely and her and gently kissed her forehead, hoping to convey just how much she’s meant to him too.

“I still have to meet this kid though. Don’t think you’ve gotten out of it just because you said some nice things. I’ve gotta make sure he’s good enough for my kid,” Tony semi-joked, laughing when Penny lightly hit his shoulder in retaliation. 

“Fine,” Penny said, rolling her eyes in mock-exasperation, “I guess I’ll let you meet him.”

“Wow, how very kind of you, kid,” Tony retorted, joining Penny in laughter. “Tell him he better turn on the charm. I know he’s got you all lovestruck but I’m still hard to win over.”

“I’ll make sure to tell him,” Penny smiled, happy to be in the arms of her beloved mentor and thanking her lucky stars for her wonderful life. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Absolutely no one asked but I always picture Joshua Bassett as Harry Osborn and I don’t know why lol!
> 
> To anyone who likes Penny with Harley: at some point, I will get around to writing a chapter with him, but this particular story worked better with Harry so here it is!
> 
> Welp, let me know what you guys thought! Love and appreciate you all!


	13. M is for Milkshakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!
> 
> It’s been a while since I’ve updated and I apologize for that; life got unexpectedly busy this past week and the writer’s block was stronger than ever when I was finally available lol!
> 
> Three things you should to know for this story: Tony met another kid in the events of Iron Man 3 instead of Harley just because I can, there’s like two or so subtle mentions of Penny/Harley because I gave Harry all of the love last chapter, and the diner mentioned is completely fictional because the research got confusing and I got lazy so yeah.
> 
> Anyways, all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoy!!

It was a warm Wednesday evening in the summer when Tony had a craving for a milkshake—a good, hearty chocolate milkshake which the sides of fries to be exact. 

He’d spent most of the day aimlessly watching TV and being bored out of his mind, mostly because it wasn’t a lab day with Penny and he’d gotten so used to working with her that being in the lab alone felt weird to him now. 

So, he was bored and because Pepper was in Australia for a business trip, Penny was spending the day in Queens, and Rhodey was still in D.C. for work, Tony decided to take a break from the Tower and head over to his favorite, hole-in-the-wall diner close to Queens called Grimes & Brewer. He had stopped by the diner on his first ever visit to New York and had been going there ever since as a regular, though the trips got more infrequent as time went on and life got busier. But he had nothing else to do and was craving their house-made fries dipped in their signature chocolate milkshakes so he happily strolled to his garage, hopped in one of his nicer cars, and drove off to the diner. 

* * *

Grimes & Brewer was relatively empty for a Wednesday evening, something Tony was thankful for. He knew all the staff by name, greeting the ones he saw, and was ushered to his regular booth before he could even blink. 

He had gotten the fries and chocolate milkshake so often that the staff knew his order by heart and never had to ask what he wanted, so instead of spending his time looking at the menu like he would anywhere else, Tony settled for people watching while his meal was being prepared. 

Tony spotted a few other regulars during his watching; there was Leonard and Marley, a sweet, old married couple who sat and did sudoku puzzles as they munched on a shared plate of hash browns; Olivia, a young middle school teacher who graded papers as she nibbled on a grilled cheese sandwich or two; Mia, an up-and-coming British actress who nursed a cookie dough milkshake while reading lines for her Broadway scripts and humming beautifully to the songs of the stage; and Harley, a sarcastic but incredibly intelligent high school student who loved working on different engineering projects as he scarfed down bacon cheeseburgers—and neither Harley nor Penny knew this, but Tony had been formulating a plan to set the two smart-as-a-whip teenagers up for a couple of months now. 

No one in the diner was ever phased by Tony’s presence, something that relieved him to no end. All the regulars just give him a smile or a wave, carrying on as if a genius, billionaire, superhero wasn’t in their midsts. And even those who weren’t regulars tended to leave him alone for the most part; some days people would just notice him and whisper a little before losing interest and some days he’s asked for a few pictures and an autograph here and there. But all-in-all, the diner brings him a sense of normalcy that he never really had as a well-known celebrity. 

So he waved as those he knew but then turned to look out the window at the bustling streets of New York, not quite in the mood to start a long conversation with anyone at the moment. 

But as he was watched the passer-byers, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming closer, presumably the waiter or waitress coming by with his food or a fan wanting to meet him, but the footsteps come to a screeching halt a few feet behind him, garnering Tony’s attention as he turned his head from the window to look at the person behind him….

…Except the person behind him is Penny, wearing one of the diner’s signature uniforms, carrying a small plate of fries and a large chocolate milkshake, looking as if she had seen a ghost. 

A silence loomed in the air as Tony stared at his mentee with a stunned expression while Penny remained frozen, not knowing what to do with herself at the sight of her beloved mentor. 

Tony was the one to break the long silence. “Penny?” he asked incredulously. “What are you doing here, kid?”

That seemed to snap Penny out of her stunned state as she quickly made her way closer to his table, setting his order down in front of him before fiddling with her hands nervously. “I, uh…well, I work here.”

“You…you work here? Since when?” Tony questioned, not quite understanding the situation. 

“U-Um…,” she stuttered before sitting down in the booth seat opposite of him, her face looking both incredibly pale in horror and flushed bright red in embarrassment. “Our landlord bumped up the price of our rent on the apartment a few months ago and our air conditioning unit has been acting up recently, s-so after school got out for the year, I got a job working here on the days I’m not in the lab with you to help Aunt May out a little.” 

“Kid,” Tony breathed softly and smiled a little, eyes filled with sympathy and a little bit of pride as he looked at her, “why didn’t you tell me you and your aunt needed a little help? You do realize your mentor is an _actual_ billionaire who is more than willing to help you out, right?” He tried to keep his tone light and joking in manner in order to ease Penny’s conscience, but the plan seemingly failed when she looked down at her clasped hands resting on the table and deeply sighed. 

“I’m not a charity case, Mr. Stark,” Penny muttered quietly, avoiding eye contact with her mentor at all costs as she twitched under his gaze. 

“I know that, Penny,” Tony said earnestly, bringing one hand to cover her clasped hands gently, causing Penny to look up at him with hesitant eyes. “I know you and your aunt aren’t charity cases. I know you both work hard to have the things you have. I know you don’t like admitting when you need help. But _you_ know that I’m always here to help you, even when you may feel embarrassed or ashamed about something, because you’re my kid, Penny, and all I want to do is make sure you’re okay. So will you let me help you, please?”

By the end of his little speech, tears had begun to well up in Penny’s eyes as she looked in amazement at her kind-hearted mentor. It took her a moment to will the tears away collect herself before she said, “I…okay, Mr. Stark. _But_ …I do really love this job.” When Tony continued to listen to her intently, his attention unwavering, she continued with a little more confidence, “I love getting to hear everyone’s stories and talking with people. I love the feeling of responsibility I get when I get handed a paycheck that I can bring home to May. I love closing at night, when the sounds around me are dulled and I get to see the city lit up in bright lights. So, yes, if you want to help us, I physically can’t stop you from doing so…but I’m keeping this job, at least for the summer if nothing else.”

He stared at her with a sharp, analyzing gaze, but Penny’s statement left little room for argument and he was proud of her for the work she had done, so he softened his expression and smiled, “Alright, kid. You keep the job, I help you and your aunt when and where you need it, and everyone’s happy. Capisce?”

“Capisce,” Penny nodded in agreement, beaming in happiness and pride. Tony couldn’t help but melt internally at the sight. 

“Penny?” the diner’s manager/boss Ruthie called out from her place behind the counter, a motherly smile gracing her face, “Harley’s askin’ for a refill on his drink and an extra set of hands on his project. You got that covered?” In response, Penny nodded and gave the woman a thumbs up before turning back to Tony to wrap up their conversation. 

“Thank you for understanding, Mr. Stark. It means a lot,” Penny expressed gratefully, continuing to smile brightly at her mentor. 

“Of course, Ink Pen. And, hey, maybe now I have a better reason to stop by here more often. How does that sound? It’s been a while since I’ve been a regular here.”

“Sounds perfect, Mr. Stark,” Penny agreed as she stole one of his fries, dipping it in the milkshake and eating it as she stood up from the booth. “Welp, duty calls. I promised Mia I’d help her go over some lines for her play and now it seems like Harley needs a bit of help, so I’m gonna get back to work.”

“Sounds good, kiddo,” Tony laughed quietly before smirking and saying, “so, you know Harley, huh? Pretty great kid, isn’t he?”

Tony’s smirk only grew as Penny groaned loudly, her cheeks flaring up with embarrassment. “Mr. Staaaaark,” Penny whined loudly, drawing out the syllables of his name as she looked everywhere but him. 

“What?” Tony answered, a smirk still present on his face as he held his hands up in mock-defense, “I was just wondering.”

Rolling her eyes at his meddling, Penny threw him one last sarcastic smile before heading over to Harley’s table to grab his glass and give him a refill. 

Tony contentedly ate his delicious food and watched as Penny sat down next to Harley, the two of them laughing at each other’s jokes and stealing shy glances when the other wasn’t looking. _Well,_ Tony thought to himself, _guess I didn’t even need my plan after all._

* * *

After that day, Tony made it his mission to visit Grimes & Brewer whenever Penny had a shift. 

Sometimes he’d just stop by for a hello and quick milkshake on the go; sometimes he’d stay for a while and table hop around the diner, taking time to talk to each of the regulars and catch-up on life; sometimes he’d stay for hours on end, either bringing a StarkPad with him to get work done or just gaze out of the window and watch the people pass him by as he heard Penny’s melodious laugh ring through the small diner as she mingled with the customers. 

It became a new little tradition for them, one that they were both secretly grateful for. Without fail, Tony _always_ showed up at the diner whenever Penny was there working and both of them enjoyed each other’s presence, whether the foot traffic was slow and Penny got to sit down with Tony or it was busy and Tony got to watch as Penny flitted around the room, taking peoples’ orders with her infectious, optimistic attitude. 

And as he sat in his regular, well-used booth, fondly watching as Penny and Harley shared a bacon cheeseburger and a large cookies and cream milkshake on her lunch break, Tony couldn’t help but feel a sense of serenity for the first time in what felt like years as he and Penny grew closer than ever. 

_And all because I was craving a milkshake on some random summer evening,_ Tony amusedly thought to himself before he caught Penny’s gaze and exchanged a sweet smile with her. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this! I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.
> 
> Also, shoutout to my pal Mia (whom I snuck into this story because she’s the best) and her lovely friends for coming up with the chapter word when my mind was completely blank!


	14. N is for Nostalgia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, this chapter was a doozy to write. I had some many words and story ideas I could’ve used, and absolutely none of them wanted to be written expect this, so I’m sorry if this is not my best work! And the word doesn’t even have that much to do with the story in my opinion but whatever, I won’t care if you don’t lol.
> 
> Also, I’m sorry but I killed May :(( I love her but it made more sense for her to be gone in this chapter’s case. 
> 
> Anyway, all mistakes are mine (and I’m sure there will be some because it’s really late and I’m half asleep right now) and I hope you all enjoy!! :)

Considering how much Penny had lost in her short lifetime, it’s no surprise that she sometimes went through bouts of nostalgia from time to time, especially when she pulled out her family’s old photo albums. 

Photo albums: the only thing that helped persevere Penny’s memory of her deceased family members. 

She relied on those photo albums even more following the sudden death of her Aunt May. 

It had been over a year since May had found out that Penny was Spider-Girl, and the two women had been closer than ever when May had a fatal stroke in their apartment while Penny was at school, leaving the young girl alone with no living relatives and Tony Stark as her guardian. 

Ever since that fateful day, Penny had clung to the photo albums for memories of her beloved aunt and the rest of her absent family members. 

Sometimes the photos helped; she would look at a picture of a younger Penny and May smiling back at her and would feel comforted by the fact that her aunt lived a fulfilling life while she could. Other days, the photos only hurt; Penny would anxiously flip through pages and pages of memories and feel a cumulation of guilt, rage, sadness, and wistfulness as her eyes skimmed the pages. On those particularly bad days, Tony would usually have to haul a sobbing Penny off of the ground—where she was surrounded by heaps and heaps of old, worn-out photo albums—and into his arms, where he would try to comfort the distraught girl as best as he could. 

Penny was always thankful for the photo albums though, whether they caused her happiness or sadness. It was a chance to see her aunt, uncle, and parents again and she wasn’t one to pass up an opportunity like that. 

Tony noticed Penny’s obvious attachment to the albums. Those books had helped her deal with her grief more than therapy ever did, which is why when her 17th birthday rolled around,—about ten months after May’s passing—he crafted a new, specially made photo album just for her as one of her few gifts. 

For her birthday, all Penny had asked for was to spend the whole day with Tony, not even wanting her best friends or the rest of the Avengers to join them. When Tony had gently asked her why she didn’t want to see anyone else, she had simply told him that she would’ve spent the day alone with May, had her aunt been there, because Penny didn’t like the attention birthday’s tended to cause. 

Obviously, Tony was more than willing to grant Penny her one, simple request, but he also wasn’t about to leave her empty-handed on her birthday. 

When Penny woke up on August 10th, she was greeted by the smell of fresh, homemade belgian waffles (also known as Penny’s absolute favorite breakfast food) wafting through their floor. As soon as she emerged from her bedroom to see her guardian dressing their plates of waffles with fresh fruit and whipped cream while asking FRIDAY to queue up their next episode of _Community_ , Penny knew that it was going to be a good birthday, even without the presence of her aunt. 

They spent the whole day enjoying each other’s company as they watched her favorite show, ate their favorite foods, and talked about anything and everything. At one point in the late afternoon, Penny started getting fidgeting while her eyes darted around the large living room—a tell that she had the urge to pull out one of her beloved photo albums. 

Noticing her behavior, Tony stood up, excusing himself for a second, and went to his bedroom to grab Penny’s birthday presents from his closet. 

“What…,” Penny whispered when Tony made his way back to the living room, presents in hand, “what are those for?”

“C’mon, kid. You _really_ expect me to let your birthday pass without giving you a few gifts?” Tony answered incredulously as he set the gifts on the coffee table in front of them. 

“B-but, I didn’t ask for anything,” Penny said quietly, looking shy and, for some reason, a little guilty. 

“I know, honey. And I didn’t get you a lot, but you deserve a gift or two,” Tony responded, smiling softly at his sweet kid. “Plus, I had a few good ideas for you and wanted to make them.”

“I…thank you,” Penny replied, sincerity evident in her voice as she began to slowly tear up. In an attempt to distract herself from the tears threatening to flow, she reached for her presents and began opening them one by one. 

Every present she received was made by Tony himself, including a new watch that connected to both Karen and FRIDAY, a record player he built from scratch so that Penny could play some of her family’s cherished records, a camera he made with spare parts because Penny had always seemed interested in photography but never had enough money to buy a nice one for herself, and last but not least, the new photo album. 

When she pulled back the wrapping paper for the thick photo album, she just smiled at Tony with a slightly puzzled look on her face, not quite understanding the point of the gift since she had yet to open the cover. 

“Go on, kiddo,” Tony said, urging Penny to open the memory-filled book. At his insistence, Penny laughed silently and opened the book, her breath catching in her throat upon seeing the first photo: one that Tony captured of May and Penny hugging when the two adults went to pick Penny up from the airport after her school trip to Europe. The second photo on the first page was a picture of a very young and very smiley Penny on Christmas morning, dressed in candy cane striped, footie pajamas and surrounded by her parents, May, and Ben. 

In the blink of an eye, the tears Penny had been holding back earlier began to flow freely and heavily while she ran her fingers over the smooth surface of the photos, some of her tears dropping and soaking into the page before she could stop them. 

Tony sat silently beside Penny as she flipped through the pages of her own personal album, pages filled with pictures of her and her family, her and Tony, and even a few of her with other members of the Avengers. Knowing she needed time to dissect the object in front of her and analyze every detail in each picture, Tony just stayed by her side, occasionally bringing a gentle hand to her shoulder-length hair to brush through it and calm her down. 

Penny looked through her book, front to back, four times before she delicately closed the album, moving it off of her lap and into her arms where she brought her arms around it to hug it. When she finally looked back up at Tony, the photo album still tucked safely in her arms, her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes shone with a mix of fresh tears and infinite gratitude. 

“You…you made this for _me_?” Penny asked softly, right before Tony once again moved his hand to her hair to softly brush her golden brown locks out of her face. 

“Yeah, Pen. I made for you,” Tony responded with an utterly soft smile on his lips as he looked at his kid. “I know you channel your nostalgia through these old photo albums, and you’ve worn through your other ones so I figured you needed another one with updated pictures.” When she remained silent, all of her attention focused on him, he continued, albeit a little nervously, “I…FRIDAY helped me collect some photos she had through the security cameras, so I hope you don’t mind. I only use those cameras for emergencies…but there were too many good memories here to ignore. That alright?”

Suddenly, Penny lunged towards him and buried her face into his chest as he protectively wrapped his arms around her, doing his best to provide her the comfort and love she needed. The photo album was nestled safely between their bodies, which Tony didn't mind in the slightest. “It’s perfect,” she whispered as Tony felt tears soak through the fabric of his t-shirt. “Thank you, thank you, _thank you_.”

“Of course, Pen. You know I’d do anything for you,” Tony commented as he wrapped his arms tighter around her and pressed a loving kiss to the top of her head. 

After a few moments of silence, Penny slowly lifted her head off of Tony’s chest and smiled adoringly at him, shyly asking, “Can we look at it again? Together?”

How could Tony say no to her? “Yeah, kid…together,” Tony responded. With his confirmation, Penny released her tight grip on her gift and wiggled around on the couch a little until she was sitting right beside Tony with the photo album spreading across their laps as they began to flip through the pages filled with cherished memories. 

“Happy birthday, Penny,” Tony whispered to Penny as they reached a page lined with pictures of Penny, May, and Tony all together. 

They spent the rest of their evening making new memories as they skimmed through old ones, letting themselves get swept up in the nostalgia the photos brought and enjoying each other’s warm, welcoming company. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone say thank you to Taylor Swift’s first few albums for getting me through this story! Couldn’t have done it without them haha!
> 
> Well, let me know if you guys liked it! Your comments mean the world to me!! ♥️


	15. O is for Ocean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, hi, I just want to start out by saying I’m SO SORRY for taking almost three weeks to update! Lack of motivation + writer’s block + lots of summer work for school made it difficult to get this chapter written! I hope this chapter is worth the wait. :)
> 
> Also, I don’t know if there are any Chuck fans out there but in case you were wondering, this chapter was inspired by the Chuck and Sarah scene of the beach in the pilot episode. 
> 
> Well...all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoy!

Penny was physically, mentally, and emotionally _exhausted._

It wasn’t everyday she fought a supervillain on the beach surrounded by the wreckage of a crashed plane belonging to her “mentor”, or whatever the hell Stark wanted to call himself. 

After having successfully avoided being spotted sitting atop the Coney Island Cyclone, Penny had sluggishly found a nearby payphone, calling both May and Ned with coins she found scattered on the fairgrounds—the former to tell her aunt that she would be “spending the night” at Ned’s, when instead, she was really planning to stay out on the beach all night to think, and the latter to assure him that she was fine and to ask him to cover for her in case May called his household to ask about her—, and then dazedly made her way back to the beach, swaying heavily on her feet as she found a clear spot in the sand without fiery, wrecked plane parts or stray stragglers taking strolls. 

What felt like hours passed as Penny sat in the sand, looking into the vast darkness of the water and feeling the salty ocean breeze on her bruised and battered face. All she could do was stew and ponder in the silence of her own thoughts.

What would have happened if she was never involved in the ferry incident?

What if she still had her suit instead of having it taken from her because of her recklessness?

What if the Vulture hadn’t happened to be Liz’s dad?

What if someone had actually showed up as she cried for help under the confines of broken concrete and her own crippling fear?

Just as she felt herself being completely consumed by her thoughts, Penny heard the distant but distinguishable sound of repulsors and heavy, metal-clad boots landing on the soft sand behind her before hearing the suit open and close back up. 

Choosing not to acknowledge the presence of the person behind her, Penny continued staring at the ocean, soaking in the dull, muted sounds of her surroundings that she wasn’t accustomed to because of her life in the obstreperous, bustling city. 

After the long-lasting stretch of silence, Tony sighed loudly and unceremoniously plopped down to the left of her, cracking knees and sore back be damned. Penny shifted slightly in her spot, the only acknowledgment to Tony that she was aware of his presence beside her. 

Tony copied her actions by looking straight ahead at the boundless ocean before sighing again and breaking the tense, uncomfortable silence. “How long have you been here?”

“All night,” Penny responded quietly, shrugging her shoulders slightly before wincing in agony at the eruption of pain from her bruised ribs. Despite her obvious discomfort, she did her best to hide her pain from Tony by taking steadying breaths and focusing on the ocean breeze brushing the soot-covered hair from her face. 

“Talk to me Penny,” Tony pleaded when Penny continued to remain unresponsive. He turned his head to look at the girl, covered head to toe in ashes, dried blood, and sand. 

His pleading caused something to flare deep inside of Penny and for the first time in hours, she turned her eyes away from the midnight blue ocean and fixed her stony gaze on the older man’s face. She gave herself a few moments to truly look at him before she spoke, noticing the overly-pronounced worry lines on his forehead, the heavy bags under her eyes, the unusually messy hair on top of his head that looked as if someone had spent _hours_ nervously running their fingers through it, and the deeply bone-tired look on his face. 

“ _Talk to you_?” Penny asked lowly, voice edged with incredulousness and utter disbelief. She shallowly laughed—the noise making Tony flinch in his spot—and shook her head slightly before continuing, the volume of her voice increasing with every uttered word. “You want me to talk to you after you took away my suit: the only thing keeping me as safe as possible and the only thing I had available to contact you if I needed help? You want me to talk to you after Ned called Happy more times than I can count, only for him to hang up on my best friend, leaving me without any help to stop the madman who just happened to be my homecoming date’s father? _You_ want _me_ to talk to you after I cried for _days_ from the guilt of the ferry accident and the sting of your words afterwards? You really think you can just sit there and expect me to _talk to you_ after all of that, Mr. Stark?”

Tony was at a loss for words. All he could do was stare at the young hero as her words stabbed him deep in the chest. His guilt over what happened after the ferry incident was already eating him alive, but hearing just a small fraction of Penny’s side of the story just about killed him right then and there. As he opened his mouth, not exactly knowing what to say but wanting to ease the situation as much as possible, the floodgates opened and Penny began to ramble as she turned her eyes back to the ocean.

“A few months ago, I was just a regular girl, admiring those who were strong and brave enough to put their lives on the line to save others, and now…now I-I have to be one of them. I have to put _my life_ on the line to protect those who can’t protect themselves.” Penny paused to take a shaky breath and comb her lacerated fingers through her tangled brown hair. “I mean, why _me_?” she questioned, voice thick with unshed tears as she continued to marvel at the ocean’s unwavering, everlasting beauty. “Why some random nobody from Queens? Why some emotionally vulnerable, parentless kid who couldn’t save the people she loved most from leaving her forever? _Why me?_ ”

“Penny…,” Tony whispered helplessly, unprecedented tears shining in his eyes at the girl’s heartbreaking words. “I…I _don’t_ know why you were the chosen one, or why the universe picked you to be a super awesome, kickass superhero…but whoever it was made the right decision when picking you.” He paused when he noticed the miniscule smile gracing her face before continuing with an exhausted sigh, “Kid, I…I kept you at arms length because I thought it would be best for you in the long run. I thought you wouldn’t need a mentor who is too reckless for his own good and who couldn’t even prevent the breakup of his own team. But _you_ …you deserve better than that, Penny, and I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me most.”

Once he finished talking, Penny slowly turned her head to look at him, her tears leaving track marks as they slowly streamed down her grimy, ash-covered face. After a few seconds of watching his face, analyzing the genuineness of his words and the kindness in his eyes, she turned back to the ocean and quietly asked, “What happens now?”

“For now, you go back home to your Aunt May to lay low and recuperate, you’ll get your suit back so that you’ll be safe to patrol after some much needed bed rest, and we'll protect you—no, scratch that, _I’ll_ protect you,” Tony promised with genuine sincerity as he stared ahead at the water in front of him, watching Penny from the corner of his eye. 

“And my aunt, my friends…are t-they in danger?” Penny suddenly asked, her worry evident as she began to nervously twitch with her fingers.

“The Vulture has been taken to a secure facility where he’ll never be able to get you or your family and friends. But tell them nothing to keep them safe.” He saw Penny nod her head in agreement before she stopped her twitching and began unwittingly dragging her fingers through the sand as the tension visibly melted from her body. Tony softly cleared his throat before adding, “I need you to do one thing for me though.”

Penny shifted her attention back to her idol sitting on her left. “Yeah?” she asked, eyes shining with unanswered questions and an ounce of hope.

“I need you to trust me Penny,” Tony implored, turning his head to look directly in the girl’s chocolate brown eyes. “Can you do that for me?”

Penny sighed in contentment and said in earnest, “Yeah, I can do that.”

Satisfied with her answer, Tony curtly nodded and looked away from her overly-appreciative eyes, not before softly smiling. “Good,” he whispered. After she turned to stare at the ocean once more, Tony playfully bumped his right shoulder into her left, not considering the underlying injuries she could have amassed during the night.

“Ow,” she winced painfully after the contact, laughing a little hysterically as she remembered the rest of the pain flowing through her body.

Tony, in turn, winced and quickly said, “Yeah, how about we get you checked out, kid?”

Penny nodded dejectedly with a grimace on her face and agreed, “Yeah, that’d be nice, thanks.”

And with that, Tony helped Penny up off of the ground, delicately wrapping his arms around her to support her as she swayed uneasily on her feet. Though there were lots of things unsaid and unresolved between the two of them, in those moments, Penny finally started to trust Tony completely and Tony started to respect Penny more than he’d ever respected another superhero in his life. And even as the doctor Tony paid to never reveal her identity listed the copious amounts of injuries and abrasions Penny had acquired, she couldn’t help but feel at peace for the first time since she got her powers, knowing she now had him in her corner at all times, trusting her just as much as she trusted him. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know if you guys enjoyed it and I’ll try my best to update quicker next time around (no promise though)!!
> 
> Stay safe and be kind to one another! ♥️


	16. P is for Paintball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!!
> 
> Sorry for the wait! Here’s a fun chapter inspired by the Community paintball episodes, aka some of the best ones on the show. 
> 
> Side note: I took a little creative license when imagining the layout of the Compound since we didn’t get to see a lot of it in the movies and I really didn’t feel like rewatching any to get a feel for the area. So if it’s horrifically unrealistic, just remember that this is fiction ;)
> 
> Anyway, all mistakes are mine and I hope you all enjoy!

It started off as a regular, lazy Saturday afternoon at the Avengers Compound. The team was lying about on the living room couches, watching some old black and white film that Steve had selected when Penny, who was laying down with her head pillowed on Tony’s thigh, groans loudly and turns her body to look up at the ceiling, dramatically slinging her arm to cover her face. 

“This is so _boring,_ ” Penny whines loudly, though her dramatics only catch the attention of her mentor. “Can we _please_ do something? This is exactly how we spent the last two weekends.”

Chuckling in amusement, Tony gently combs a hand through her fanned out hair and, as to not disturb those who are deeply invested in the movie, quietly asks, “You got any better ideas, kid? You’re the one who wanted to watch movies instead of work in the lab.”

In response, Penny huffs in exasperation and says with a wave of the hand, “Well I figured we’d watch some kickass action movies or something like that, not these mind-numbing movies as old as Steve and Bucky.”

“I heard that,” Steve and Bucky unanimously mutter, not taking their rapt attention off of the television screen. 

“We need to do something fun,” Penny announces, ignoring Steve and Bucky's comment and instead looking up at Tony with huge, hopeful eyes. As Tony searches his brain for something entertaining that won’t involve the lab or anything on a television screen, Penny’s face suddenly lights up and she’s in a seated position before Tony could even blink. “We should play paintball,” Penny gasps excitably.

“ _Paintball?_ ” Tony questions, thrown by the randomness of her suggestion. By this time, Penny has caught the attention of every other Avenger in the room, her enthusiasm utterly contagious.

“Yes, _paintball._ I was binge-watching a show earlier this week and they played a game of paintball on their community college campus where the last person standing won a huge prize and all. We could _totally_ do that here; this compound is plenty big enough.” Penny eagerly explains as she looks around at the other occupants in the room with exuberance. 

“Sounds fun,” Natasha says with indifference, a miniscule smile etched on her face as she casually files her nails. 

“Won’t that make a gigantic mess, kid? I mean, this place is alarming spotless,” Rhodey pipes up from the kitchen where he is busy popping more popcorn.

Tony’s heart just about breaks when Rhodey’s words cause Penny to visibly deflate in her spot, a disappointed expression gracing her youthful face. With a newfound determination to make his kid as happy as can be, Tony squares his shoulder and says, “You know what? Let’s do it, Pen. Let’s play some paintball.”

“Really?” Penny joyously shouts, her eyes lighting up as she unconsciously grips his shoulders and starts shaking him in excitement.

“Yeah, kid. Should be fun,” Tony responds with a chuckle, wearing that smile reserved exclusively for Penny. 

“I’m in,” Sam chimes from his spot next to Natasha, who also nods in agreement, a mischievous glint in both of their eyes. 

Turning his head towards Bucky, Steve takes in the barely there but still noticeably enraptured smile on his best friend’s face and agrees, “Yeah, we’re in, too.”

“I, too, shall join in on this joyous event,” Thor booms, coming out of seemingly nowhere and startling everyone present, except for Natasha of course. 

“I, uh, I think I should sit this one out,” Bruce mutters, calmly sipping his cup of herbal tea in contentment. “But I’d still love to watch.”

All eyes turn to Rhodey then, the only one who has yet to give an answer. Sighing, Rhodey declares, “Ah, what the hell; yeah, I’m in.”

* * *

The rules of the game: everywhere inside of the Compound is off limits unless it’s a communal area; anyone who gets any paint on them whatsoever, whether they are physically shot or not, is automatically out and has to sit in the surveillance room with Bruce to watch the rest of the game; teaming up _is_ allowed, but again, there can only be one winner; the winner gets a two-week long, paid vacation to the destination of their choosing; and lastly, superpowers/supersuits _are_ allowed to be used but are strongly encouraged against in order to make the game as fair as possible. 

After getting into their gear and loading up their weapons,—why exactly do the Avengers have paintball equipment lying around? The world may never know—the players congregate back into the communal living room where Bruce explains everything. 

“Got it?” the scientist finishes, looking at each and every one of their faces for confirmation. When he’s met with nods and noises of agreement, he smiles and says, “Perfect. When I say go, you’ll have exactly three minutes to spread out and assume your positions before the game officially starts.”

“You ready, kid?” Tony asks, nudging Penny’s shoulder while Bruce checks with FRIDAY to make sure the timer and surveillance cameras are working just right.

“Hell yeah,” Penny confidently whispers, a determined edge to her voice. “Team up?” she asks, holding out a pinky for him in order to seal the promise. 

“Team up,” Tony confirms, linking his pinky with hers as he puts his game face on.

“Okay, everyone, we’re all set,” Bruce exclaims, cutting the chatter that erupted in the room. “On my count of three…3, 2, 1, _go._ ”

And with that, they’re off.

* * *

Everyone goes their separate ways: Natasha disappears in the blink of an eye to God knows where; Rhodey and Thor leisurely make their way towards the elevator, seemingly more excited to see how the game plays out than to actually win; Sam takes one look at the super soldier duo and Tony and Penny before disappearing down the hallway to the heavily protected and reenforced exterior exit of the building; Penny makes her way to the window, kindly asks FRIDAY to open it for her, and then holds out her arm—to which Tony casually and confidently walks his way over to her and puts his arms around her shoulders, clinging to her like a monkey with as much bravado and dignity as he can muster—before she jumps out, the web shooters always found on her wrists helping them distance themselves from their competitors and land safely on the concrete ground; Steve and Bucky quietly make their way out of the living room and towards the main entrance of the Compound, speaking in hushed tones as they formulate their plan; last but not least, Bruce waits until the supersoldiers make their exit before he heads to the other elevator to go up and settle down in the surveillance room.

And as promised, Tony sticks by Penny’s side after they leave the living room and she finds them a good hiding spot for the time being in the loft of the airplane hangar. Just as they get comfortable in their perches, a crackling noise comes from the speakers located all around the property and Bruce announces, “Your three minutes is up. The game has officially begun. Good luck.”

“Alright kid, what’s the plan?” Tony whispers.

“I think we should move sooner rather than later,” Penny starts. “I think Nat’s going to stay on the move because she can be discreet enough not to get caught; Thor and Rhodey seemed like they don’t care enough to hide out, so I’m guessing they’ll stay in a communal area of the main building; Steve and Bucky will stay out in the open to draw attention to themselves to lure people in; and Sam,” she pauses in contemplation, “he’s a wildcard in my opinion, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see about him.”

Tony hums in agreement at her words and quietly surveys the area. 

Through the silence, Penny is able to focus her attention on hearing the sounds of everything nearby them. After a couple of quiet minutes, she hears the distinct sound of two pairs of heavy footsteps growing closer and closer as they near the backside of the airplane hangar. “Bingo,” she mutters. “Steve and Bucky are right outside. We’ve gotta move quickly if we want to avoid getting trapped in here.”

Tony nods and seems to contemplate her words for a few long moments before declaring, “Here's what we're gonna do: see the emergency exit hatch on the ceiling? You’re gonna swing us up there, that way we can access the roof of this place and we can quietly shoot them from above. That sound good?”

“Yeah, let's do it,” she quietly exclaims. 

“Lead the way.” And with that, Tony latches onto Penny and she hoists both of them up to the hatch. Given that her hands are a little full, what with one holding Tony and the other sticking to the ceiling to keep them _both_ supported, Tony takes it upon himself to twist the handle of the hatch door open in order for them to climb through.

“We’ve got footsteps at our 3,” Penny whispers once they successfully climb through the hatch. “I’m only hearing one person though.”

“Weird,” Tony muses in confusion, wondering what happened to the other set of footsteps in the minutes it took them to make it onto the roof.

“Sounds like it’s Steve,” Penny admits as she focuses on her hearing more than her other senses.

After a minute or two, the footsteps come to a complete spot towards the edge of the building. “I’ve got this,” Penny pipes up, confidence oozing from her as she internally formulates her plan. 

With as much lightness and grace as one can muster when trying to sneak up on a supersoldier with enhanced hearing, Penny stealthily sneaks her way to the edge of the roof until she’s positioned herself right above an uncharacteristically unaware and unsuspecting Steve. As she extracts her paintball guns from the loops of her belt, she sneaks one last glance at Tony, who’s watching her actions with rapt attention, and throws him a bright smile, prompting him to toss her a proud thumbs-up in response. 

“It’s over, Steve,” Penny suddenly calls out, instantly garnering Steve’s attention, causing him to instinctively shoot bullets of paint up at her. Of course, her spidey sense warns her of the oncoming bullets and she expertly flips away from the flying projectiles whilst still standing on the narrow edge on the roof. “I have the high ground.” 

With the speed of lighting, Penny’s guns are pointed in the direction of Steve’s chest and she pulls the triggers four times—two for each gun—, each shot landing directly on its intended target. 

“Damnit,” Steve grumbles, looking down as his padded chest donned with a colorful mix of green, pink, yellow, and blue paint.

Suddenly, the intercom crackles to life and they hear Bruce announce: “Steve is out. One down, seven left.”

Utterly satisfied, Penny spins the guns in her hands and blows the barrel on each of them—like she’s seen in those old western movies—and laughs in jubilation at the sound of Steve’s grumbling and Tony’s rewarding cheers.

“Nice work, kid. Perfect use of a Star Wars quote,” Tony says, coming to stand right next to her on the edge of the roof and ruffle her hair as he looks down at Steve. “Better luck next time, Capsicle.”

In response, Steve just rolls his eyes in exaggerated exasperation, though they can both see him trying to fight a smile. “Kick everyone’s ass, got it?” he says, looking directly at Penny with a serious expression and a pointed finger. 

“Got it,” Penny confirms with a smile, causing Steve to finally let his own smile loose. Right as she turns to leave, Penny asks, “What happened with Bucky? Thought you guys teamed up.”

“He thought he heard Natasha somewhere close by so we split off,” Steve kindly answers, and when Penny nods in response, satisfied with his answer, he spins around and walks back towards the Compound with his head held high. 

“Alright,” Tony says with a clap of his hands and a ebullient glint in his eyes, “who’s next?”

* * *

Their next targets: Rhodey and Thor. 

Penny's earlier inferences were proven correct when they found the two men standing on the balcony right off of the second story living room, guns drawn and ready.

Shooting them really wouldn’t be that not hard; the two had their weapons focused on the area in front of them, leaving their sides unprotected from unexpected attacks. 

“Okay, Ink Pen,” Tony starts as they quietly lurk in the shadows of the main building of the Compound. “How about I stay on the ground and shoot Thor from here and while Rhodey’s distracted from the sneak attack, you swing in from the other side and shoot him from behind?”

“Yeah, that’s good,” Penny agrees as they press their backs to the side of the building, near where Thor and Rhodey are standing above on the balcony. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Tony confirms. 

And just like that, Penny’s off, speedily but stealthily scaling the side of the building until she reaches the roof. As she walks across the room and positions herself above and behind where Rhodey is standing, Tony jumps out from his hiding place and shoots an unsuspecting Thor in the hip, causing him to jump in surprise. 

“ _The hell?_ ” Rhodey screeches to the right of the god, unable to catch sight of the shooter before Tony turns back to hide against the side of the building. In his shock, Rhodey doesn’t hear the sound of Penny dropping from above and landing on the balcony right behind him, the view of his padded, paintless back tempting her to no end.

“Gotcha,” Penny smirks and fires two perfectly placed shots onto his back, the orange and purple paint splattering satisfyingly against the surface of his grey and black paintball gear. 

“Oh, _come on,_ kid,” Rhodey sighs in defeat, a stark contrast to Thor who wears a ginormous, proud smile on his face as he looks at Penny.

“Sorry,” she shrugs unapologetically as she loops her guns through her belt, flashing him with a pout and those damned puppy eyes before she smirks, looking like a mirror image of a young Tony Stark.

“Thor and Rhodey are out. Three down, five left,” Bruce reports over the intercom. 

“Beautifully done, young spider child. You are a valiant fighter,” Thor declares, walking over to Penny to give her an enthusiastic high-five, which she eagerly returns.

“Thank you, good sir,” she responds with a dramatic curtsy after their high-five. 

“Good job, kid. But I’ll get you next time,” Rhodey grumbles good-naturedly with a smirk.

“In your dreams, Honeybear,” Tony pipes up from below, rounding the corner of where he was hiding behind and smirking at the balcony occupants. 

“Shut up, Tones,” Rhodey bites back, though the smirk never leaves his face. 

With one last smile cast towards the two men, Penny leaps over the railing of the balcony and goes to stand next to her partner. “Have fun watching from the sidelines,” Penny sassily quips as she waves her fingers at them in farewell.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, her spidey senses erupt in warning and she has just enough time to roughly shove Tony a few feet out of the way, safely tucked back behind the walls of the building, before a paintball whizzes a few centimeters above her head. 

_Time for action,_ she thinks to herself as she leaps into the air to avoid the next round of bullets aimed at her. Whilst flipping gracefully in the sky, Penny whips out both guns from her belt and concentrates her attention on the perpetrator, noticing quickly that it’s Sam, clad in his Falcon wings and flying around the area above them.

She makes a sudden leap towards the now unoccupied balcony and sets one of her guns down on the ground before aiming her web shooter at the motors in Sam’s wings, sending him falling a few feet to the ground when her webs cause them to harmlessly malfunction. And as he’s distracted trying to catch his fall, she uses the hand clad with her gun to shoot two brightly colored bullets at his stomach and the hand clad with the web shooter to aim a web directly as his chest, using all of her strength heave him up onto the balcony where he collapses gracelessly. 

Both superheroes are too stunned to fully comprehend the last few seconds, so they opt to lay on the floor of the balcony in shocked silence while Tony moves around from below. 

“Did you make it, Pen?” Tony asks loudly, breaking the silence. 

“Yeah,” she says weakly before clearing her throat and saying louder, “Yeah, yeah, I…I made it.”

“Sam is out. Four down, four left,” Bruce loudly declares over the intercom, as if to correctly prove Penny’s statement.

“You okay?” Penny quietly asks Sam, who hasn’t moved from his stretched out position on the ground in a minute or two.

“I don’t know what the hell just happened,” Sam admits incredulously, looking at Penny with an ever-present expression of shock.

“Safe to say I got you,” Penny says, laughing a little in disbelief. 

“Can’t believe I got bested by a 15 year-old,” Sam grumbles unhappily, though there’s no real heat to his words. 

“17 year-old, thank you very much,” Penny responded before very maturely sticking her tongue out towards him, to which he easily mirrors. 

“Come on, Penny-pie. Let’s go find the other two,” Tony yells from the ground below them. 

“Natasha is out. Five down, three left,” Bruce interjects before Penny can say anything, his announcement surprising them all.

“Bucky must’ve got her,” Sam unhelpfully mutters from the ground. 

“I stand corrected: let’s go find the other _one_ ,” Tony shouts up, waving Penny over.

“Good game,” Penny tells Sam, holding out a hand for him to take so she can pull him to stand up.

“Yeah, kid, good game,” Sam smiles and ruffles her hair before heading back inside and to the surveillance room. With that, Penny leaps down from the balcony for the second time that day and joins Tony where he’s standing on the concrete.

“Ready to take his son of a bitch down?” Tony asks with a smirk, twirling his guns in his hands.

“Hell yeah.”

* * *

Only three people left: Penny, Tony, and Bucky.

Penny and Tony have looked just about everywhere for Bucky; he’s nowhere to be seen or heard.

“You sure he’s still on the property?” Tony calls out to the nearest security camera.

“He’s still here,” Bruce says through the speaker closest to them.

“Maybe we should go up? You know, get a good view of the grounds from above,” Penny suggests, tired of running around in circles for what’s felt like hours.

“The parking garage is probably the highest spot we can get without my suit,” Tony informs her as they continue to listen and look around. 

“Let’s go there,” Penny says, leading them across the extensive lawn of the Compound and towards the barely occupied parking garage.

They make it up the numerous flights of stairs inside of the parking garage until they reach the roof that overlooks the entire property.

“You see any signs of movement?” Penny asks as she stands near the edge of the roof and looks around. 

“Nope. You hearing any signs of movement?” Tony answers as he walks in the opposite direction of her.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Penny confesses. As she says that though, her spidey senses suddenly flare up and she hears the quiet but quick sound of footsteps and a sudden but surprisingly gentle arm wraps around her neck. And just like that, she’s pinned to the front of someone’s body with a gasp before she can react in time. 

“Don’t move,” Bucky calls out to Tony, his voice close to her ear. She watches with rapt attention as Tony tenses in his spot and slowly turns around to face them, hands tightly gripping his guns. His knuckles turn white with the pressure of his hold when Bucky brings one of his guns up to her temple and another one in the direction of Tony.

“Sorry about this, doll,” Bucky whispers in her ear, sounding genuine apologetic about the predicament. This doesn’t really surprise Penny though; everyone knows Penny’s his favorite out of all of them, minus Steve, _maybe_.

“It’s fine,” she mumbles back before locking eyes with her mentor.

After a few seconds of silent and intense eye contact, Penny mouths the words: “Just like Brooklyn 99.”

Tony instantly understands what she’s referring to—given that one of the episodes they’d watched yesterday featured Jake and Amy in this exact situation—and though it looks like it’s the last thing he wants to do, he steels himself and gives her the tiniest of nods before rapidly firing two paintballs, ironically colored bright red and blue, into her leg in the blink of an eye, causing her to roughly keel over. 

Out of pure shock, Bucky lets go of his, albeit loose, grip on Penny and watches as her paint covered body falls to the ground. In fact, he’s so busy watching Penny, he doesn’t notice Tony cock his gun and fire a neon green paintball square into his chest.

“Penny and Bucky are out. Tony wins the game,” Bruce excitablely announces through the intercom before any of them have fully processed the events that transpired. 

“You…you won?” Penny breathlessly questions, an impossibly bright smile threatening to split her face in two. 

“He won,” Bucky mutters in disbelief, looking wide-eyed at Tony. Not wasting any time, Penny jumps up from the ground, the dull ache in her leg forgotten as she bounds towards Tony and throws her arms around him in a tight hug.

“You won,” she laughs happily into his shoulder as he hugs her close. 

“We did it, kid,” Tony says, smiling down at his kid as she continues to laugh.

“Come on, you two,” Bucky calls out from behind them, a soft smile on his face as he watches the practically father-daughter duo celebrate Tony’s victory. “Haven’t eaten in hours. I’m sure Steve will make us some dinner if we give ‘em the puppy eyes.”

“Yes, _please_ ,” Penny exclaims before unlatching herself from Tony’s arms and skipping towards the parking garage stairs, an amused Tony and Bucky following closely behind her.

* * *

In the end, everyone had bruises from where they were hit with paintballs, save for Tony of course, Bucky and Penny flashed Steve their puppy eyes and they got him to make his mother’s famous chicken pot pie, and Tony ended up taking Penny and her aunt along with him on his prize vacation.

(They go to Italy and Penny instantly falls in love with it, making Tony more happy than he thought possible.)

And of course, the Avengers went ahead and scheduled the next game of paintball for when Tony and Penny return from their winning trip. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jury’s still out on this one but I’m kind of happy with how it turned out lol.
> 
> I want to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you that reads my story! I hope you’re still enjoying it just as much as I am! :)


	17. Q is Qualified

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody! Long time, no see!
> 
> I’m sincerely apologize for taking almost two months to update; school really sucks all the motivation out of me!
> 
> Just a few quick things I’d like to mention before you read:  
> \- the chapter word only vaguely represents the story so I’m sorry for that :/  
> \- in this fic, we’re going to pretend that Scott and Cassie (and by default, Maggie and Paxton) live in Queens instead of San Francisco :)  
> \- I really don’t know when the next update will be because I’m prioritizing school over writing so please be patient with me!!
> 
> Sorry for the obnoxiously long notes :/ All mistakes are mine though and I hope you enjoy!

“Penny?”

“Yeah, Cas?” Penny called out from the dining room table, tongue poking out of the side of her mouth as she worked out a problem on her physics homework. 

“Can you help me find this piece? I think I lost it,” Cassie responded from her spot on the living room floor where she was working on Penny's Cinderella Castle lego set she’d gotten from Tony awhile back. 

“Sure thing, pint-sized,” Penny said, peeling away from her schoolwork to fulfill her babysitting duties. 

You see, about two months prior, Penny was over at the Tower, eating dinner with Pepper and Tony, when her mentor had spilled the beans and told her that Pepper was pregnant. Penny had been over the moon—finally, _finally_ she would have a sister—but, later that night, realized she was nowhere near qualified enough to take care of a small child, much less a baby; it’s not like she grew up having a bunch of relatives with kids after all. Penny’s solution: ask Scott if she could babysit Cassie for him to get some practice in before the baby’s arrival. And, yeah, sure, Cassie wasn’t a baby—she was hardly even a little kid anymore—but it was good to start somewhere so she’d devoted any and all of the free time she had to taking care of Cassie for the extra practice. 

Unfortunately, that meant she had to give up lab days with Mr. Stark in order to become good enough to be around Baby Stark when she arrived. She didn’t want to give up lab days— _she truly didn’t_ —but between school, patrols, family time with May, and lab time with Mr. Stark, the lab time was at the bottom of her priority list no matter how much she loved those days. But whatever, it wasn't the worst thing in the world; she needed the practice and missing a few days in the lab with her fath—uh, _mentor_ …with her _mentor_ wouldn’t hurt her, right?

“Found it,” Penny declared, digging the missing piece out from under the couch and handing it to the smaller girl. 

“Thanks, Penny,” Cassie exclaimed happily, snatching the piece from the older girl’s outstretched hand to place on the castle right as the front door to the house opened. 

“Peanut, I’m home,” Scott called out from the entryway. At the sound of her dad’s voice, Cassie sprang up from her spot on the floor and barreled towards the door to tackle him into a hug. With a soft smile on her face, Penny watched and giggled at the father-daughter interaction before quietly making her way back to the dining room table to gather all of her stuff. 

“You guys have dinner?” Scott asked as he made his way through the house with Cassie wrapped around his legs, making it hard for him to walk. 

“Fixed us some bagel pizzas. Hope that’s alright,” Penny sheepishly answered. Neither she or Scott were prepared for her to stay for dinner but he had called her around 7 and regretfully informed her that he’d have to work a little bit longer and wouldn’t be home in time to feed Cassie. So Penny had told him not to worry and made them both homemade bagel pizzas, something she had to teach herself how to make because of May’s disastrous cooking abilities. 

“No problem. Thanks for making her dinner and staying so much later than normal,” Scott said, moving towards her to wrap her in a bear hug. 

Laughing, she waved off his thanks. “You know I don’t mind.” Breaking up the hug, Penny crouched down to hug Cassie, which proved to be a little difficult given that she was still tightly wound around her dad’s limbs, and whispered, “I had fun, missy. See you in two days?”

“See you in two days,” Cassie confirmed with a smile and an enthusiastic nod, which Penny happily returned as she stood back up. 

“Thanks again for letting me watch her,” Penny told Scott, hoping he understood just how much she appreciated his help. 

“Are you kidding me? Free babysitting from one of the greatest kids I know? I’m the one who needs to be thanking you,” Scott teased with a wide grin, causing Penny to let out a loud laugh, her cheeks painted pink with joy. 

With one last wave, she grabbed her backpack and headed towards the front door. “Bye guys. See ya on Thursday,” she called out as she closed the door, not without hearing the chorus of goodbyes directed towards her, and began her short walk home. 

* * *

Tony was…well, Tony hadn’t been doing too hot, to be honest. He’d been ecstatic, overjoyed when he found out that Pepper was pregnant and he barely lasted two days without blurting it out to Penny when she stayed over for dinner after one of their lab days. And she’d been so happy for them, jumping up and down in her seat with a humongous grin on her face before leaping towards each of them to give them the biggest hugs. She’d gushed on and on about how excited she was for a sister, what she predicted her name was going to be, how she thought they’d design her nursery—she couldn’t seem to stop talking excitedly about it and Tony’s heart doubled in size because of it. Throughout that night, he hadn’t seen the slightest glimmer of disappointment or insecurity or sadness in her, just pure, unadulterated joy. He could safely say it was one of the happiest moments of his life. 

So why was she avoiding him now? Why had Penny—his mentee, his pseudo-daughter, the girl who gave him confidence about becoming a father even after the number Howard did on him—not come by to visit in the two and a half months since they’d told her the news? Why had she cancelled _every. single. one._ of their lab days with vague, half-assed excuses as to why she couldn’t make it that time? Why had she barely called or texted him, even when he went out of his way to strike up conversations and get her to spend time with him? Just... _why?_

So yeah…it required repeating that Tony wasn’t doing too hot. 

_“Why hasn’t Penny been coming to the Tower?” Tony had gently questioned May one day during their weekly phone call._

_“I…Penny’s just been busy, Tony,” May responded, sounding distracted and slightly guilty. For what? Tony had no clue._

_“But why’s she busy all of sudden? May, I haven’t seen the kid in forever and she’s not giving him any clues.”_

_“Look, Tones,” May sighed, desperate for a change of topic, “she’s just got a lot on her plate right now. She’ll be back around before you know it.” When Tony simply sighed, sounded exhausted and hurt, May added, “I’ll get her to come by soon, don’t worry.”_

That had been two months ago. 

Penny still hadn’t come around. 

_“Is she mad at me, Pep? Does she think I’m replacing her or something?” Tony had asked one night before bed, looking the saddest his wife had seen him since the shit hit the fan with Steve._

_“Honey, maybe Penny just needs some time to adjust. A baby isn’t not always the easiest thing for someone to wrap their head around, especially a teenager who’s never really had any family,” Pepper said in response, feeling sympathetic for her husband but also feeling quite despondent herself. While her bond with the young superhero wasn’t quite as strong as her husband’s, Pepper had begun to see Penny as a daughter to her and it hurt that her daughter hadn’t been around to see her. And if_ she _was feeling this glum about Penny’s absence, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how dejected her husband felt._

_“I just miss her, Pep,” Tony bemoaned sadly, looking like someone just kicked his imaginary puppy._

_“I know you do, sweetie,” Pepper sighed, moving to gently rub her husband’s back as he lamented. “I know you do.”_

He didn’t know how much longer he could wait for her to come around before he combusted. So, taking matters into his own hands, he decided he’d talk to her once she got out of school on Thursday, before she could sling off to go fight crime and avoid him. 

(For God’s sake, he’s spoken to _Karen_ of all things more than he’d spoken to his own kid…and that was completely unacceptable to Tony. He was going to that school and he was getting the answers he needed to hear from her, goddamnit.)

By the time 3 p.m. rolled around and the last bell of the day rang, Tony was leaning against his car in the parent pick-up line at the front of the school, not even caring how many people would see him. All he cared about was seeing his kid. 

She was in her own little world when she exited the front door, head down, headphones in, most likely blasting music at full volume to drown out the sounds of the city. Her senses didn’t seem to alert her of this presence, which was good, right? That meant he didn’t pose a threat to her and that he hadn’t screwed something up bad enough to make Penny hate him forever?

“Penny!” Tony finally shouted after it became clear that she would never notice him on her own. Her head instantly snapped up, her brown eyes meeting his own, and a huge grin overtook her face as she streaked towards him, ignoring all of her peers, who were watching the interaction with bemused expressions, in favor of reaching him. 

“Mr. Stark!” Penny exclaimed as she raced towards him, knocking the wind out of him when she finally hugged him. “What are you doing here?” she asked with a beaming smile, her eyes glistening with adoration for her mentor. 

“Haven’t seen you in awhile, kiddo,” Tony said. He watched as Penny’s face fell in a matter of seconds at his words and quickly barreled on. “Was wondering if you could skip patrols today and come have dinner with Pep and I instead.”

“I…today- today’s not a good day, Mr. Stark. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do,” she said dejectedly as she stepped out of his embrace, sounding just as disappointed as Tony felt. “Ya know, school stuff and uh…a-and other stuff.”

“And other stuff? Roo, come on. It’s just me and Pepper,” Tony pleaded, desperate to spend time with her but sensing that it wasn’t going to happen. “We miss having you around, kiddo. Pep thinks you don’t want to see her all swollen and pregnant.”

“No! No, that’s not it at all. I’d loved to go see her, even if she’s all swollen and pregnant. I just…now’s _really_ not a good time and I’m running late so I have to go,” Penny explained, looking down at the time on her watch and biting her lip anxiously when she read it. Tony knew how much she hated being late and felt bad for making her feel anxious, but he needed an explanation, damnit. He needed his kid back. 

“Kid—,” he started but was stopped short when Penny pulled him in for one last, quick hug before backing away even further from him, looking ready to make her exit. 

“I’ve really gotta go, Mr. Stark. See you later,” she promised, giving him one last smile and wave before she was off, weaving through the crowd of students and making her way towards the direction of her apartment before he could stop her. 

“‘See you later’ my ass,” Tony grumbled out loud, sounding just as defeated and solemn as he felt. With a crestfallen sigh, he climbed back into his car and made his way back to the Tower, the silence of Penny’s absence becoming all the more deafening the further he drove away. 

* * *

“Scott? Cassie?” Penny called out as she walked through the Lang’s front door. 

“I’m here, kid,” Scott responded from what sounded like the kitchen. Penny gingerly set her backpack down and slipped her shoes off before making her way through the house. 

“Where’s Cassie?” The little girl’s absence was noticeable in the quiet kitchen with Scott sitting alone at the bar top, working on something on this computer. 

“About that…,” Scott started before trailing off, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. “Maggie asked me a couple weeks ago to switch our days with Cassie so they could go on vacation with Paxton for the weekend. She’s coming to pick the peanut up in a little bit. It totally slipped my mind to tell you. Sorry, kiddo.”

“Hey, that’s okay. I just want to pop in and say hi to the little squirt and then I’ll get out of your hair,” Penny smiled reassuringly, letting Scott know that she truly didn’t mind the change of plans. 

“Sounds good, Pen. Thanks for coming by anyway,” Scott said, moving to place a gentle kiss on her forehead for her troubles. 

“Of course.” With one last smile thrown towards the older superhero, Penny made her way towards Cassie’s room to talk for a few minutes before she was on her way out of the house and back to her apartment a few blocks away from Scott and Cassie’s place. 

She had just plugged in her headphones and was about to start playing her music when she got an incoming call from her aunt. With a wide grin, she answered. 

“Hi, Aunt May!”

“Hi, baby girl. You at Scott’s?” her aunt questioned. 

“Actually…turns out there was a change of plans with Maggie’s days with Cassie. I just left their place and I’m heading home now.”

May hummed in acknowledgement at her words, sounding kind of distracted, which meant she was probably getting ready to head to work for the night. She didn’t remember May telling her she had the night shift but Penny didn’t question it; May’s schedule was always unexpectedly changing. Penny stayed quiet for a few moments, wondering the reason for her aunt calling her when May piped up. 

“Do you have anything else planned for tonight?”

“Uh…,” she paused for a second to think. Part of her wanted to take her first free day in a while to just relax in front of the TV at home…but another part of her felt sort of _empty_ without something to fill her time. “For now, I'm just thinking of staying home for the night. Why? Do you need me to do something?”

“That’s actually why I called. Tony texted me today telling me he went to talk to you at school.” In a much quieter, gentler tone, she explained, ”He misses you a lot kiddo, more than you’d think. I think you should probably stop by the Tower tonight while you have the time and spend it with Tony and Pepper.”

At May’s suggestion, Penny gasped in excitement. _How did I not think of that?_ she asked herself before beginning to ramble with zeal. “May, that’s a great idea! I haven’t seen him in _ages_ and I feel really bad for not being able to see them as much. It’s been _super_ weird not to go to the lab each week and see him and Pepper and the bots. Ooh, May, do you think they’ve painted the nursery yet? Have they picked out a name for baby girl? I need to figure out some presents to get her before she comes so she’ll have something to remember me by and I should—”

“Penny, baby, breathe,” May said, letting out an affectionate laugh. “Go see them. They need you.”

Penny let out a wistful little sigh and managed a tiny grin. “I will. See you later?”

“I’m working the night shift tonight so I won’t be back until morning. Do you want to stay at the Tower tonight and get a ride to school from Happy or Tony in the morning?”

“I’ll have to ask Mr. Stark but yeah, I’d like that,” Penny responded, getting increasingly more excited to see her pseudo-mom and dad. 

“He’ll say yes,” May said with confidence. “I’ll see you when you get home from school, sweetie. Be safe. I love you.”

“I love you too, May. Bye.” And with that, she was off towards the Tower with a newfound energy. 

* * *

Let the record show that Tony Stark was, in fact, _not_ sulking. Totally not sulking. Totally hadn’t been sulking since Penny ran off, away from him. 

(Okay, maybe he was sulking.)

He couldn’t help it, goddamnit. All he wanted was to see his kid. All he wanted was to spend time with her again, hear about her day at school, tinker in the lab with her, cook dinner for her and Pepper, maybe even watch a movie before she’d inevitably fall asleep on his shoulder and then he would carry her to her room in the Tower where she used to stay all the time. 

The door to her room hadn’t been opened in two and a half months. Two and a half months too long if you asked Tony. 

As he sat in his workshop, sitting on the couch in silence whilst staring out the window because he couldn’t actually focus on any of his work, FRIDAY’s voice cut through the quiet. “ _Sir, Penny’s on her way up in the private elevator. She’ll be here in approximately two minutes._ ”

That brought him out of his daze. “ _What?_ FRIDAY, Penny’s here?” He couldn't quite believe what he heard. If he pinched himself to make sure he was awake and not just dreaming, no one had to know but him and FRIDAY. 

“ _Affirmative, boss. She just set her bags in her room and is now making her way to you_.”

“Holy shit,” he gasped, still not believing his ears. He scrambled up from the couch and raced towards the lab doors, just in time for them to open and Penny to step in. 

“Mr. Sta—,” Penny started to exclaim brightly before she was cut off by a crushing hug from her mentor. 

“Pen, oh my god. You’re here,” Tony sighed, feeling the most at peace he had in months. Don’t get him wrong, he was thrilled to welcome his newest daughter and was thankful everyday for the opportunity to raise a family with Pepper…but it was hard to be fully happy when he hadn’t been seen or talked to his other daughter in so long. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

“I’m here,” she whispered, face tucked in this shoulder. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“Is somethi—kid, it’s been weeks, _months,_ since I’ve seen you, other than at school today,” Tony explained, sounding hurt and confused and _exhausted._ Penny felt guilty for being the one to cause that. 

“I…I know,” she muttered, her voice almost inaudible had she not been right there next to him. “I’m _really_ sorry, Mr. Stark. I just…there was stuff I had to do.”

“Did we…did we scare you off with all the baby stuff?” he asked dreadfully with a wince as if he was bracing himself for a disappointing answer. 

“No!” Penny exclaimed, pulling away from the hug a little to look at him directly in the eyes. “No, Mr. Stark. You and Pepper didn’t scare me off, _not at all_.”

“Then why didn’t you come around, kid? And don’t give me any of that ‘it wasn’t a really good time’ and ‘I was super busy’ bullshit. I’m tired of being left in the dark, Penny. I haven’t talked to you in _months._ Everything I’ve heard about you recently has been from either May or Karen. The first time I saw you was like two hours ago at school. Just…tell me what’s happening, Roo. Please,” Tony pleaded, voice thick with emotions. 

“I…,” she started before glancing guiltily down at her feet, avoiding his gaze. Feeling insecurity and embarrassment creeping to the surface, she let out a resigned sigh and muttered, “I’ve been babysitting Scott’s daughter, Cassie, in my free time. You- you guys told me that you were pregnant and I was _so excited,_ like more excited than I should’ve been for a baby I’m not even related to but then I remembered that I have _no idea_ how to be around little kids, especially babies. And I’m embarrassed by it. I want you guys to trust me enough to let me help you when the baby comes. So I've been going to Scott’s a couple times a week instead of coming here for lab time so that I’ll be qualified enough to handle Baby Stark when she finally gets here.”

A couple moments of stunned silence hung in the air as Penny continued avoiding eye contact and Tony’s heart simultaneously broke and warmed at his everything-but-blood daughter’s words before he spoke up. “Penny,” he whispered softly, that one word filled with so much love and affection that something in Penny forced her to look up at him. “You didn’t have to do all of that just for the baby, kiddo. Pepper and I trust you more than we trust most people and we’ve never had a single doubt about you not being capable or qualified enough to care for our baby. You know that, right?” Tears began to fill in her eyes, but Penny nodded nonetheless and Tony continued. “I wish you had told me what you were doing. I’m so proud of you for what you’ve been doing with Cassie, though. None of us deserve you, kiddo. But next time, tell me what’s going on. Don’t skip lab days without any explanation and keep me in the dark for so long. You’re my kid, Penny. I love you and I missed you and I’m so happy you’re here.”

With happy tears rolling down her eyes, Penny let out a choked up giggle and pulled Tony into another hug. “I love you, too, Mr. Stark. Sorry for everything,” she whispered into his ear, melting into his embrace. She hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed his presence until she was with him, wrapped tightly in his welcoming arms. 

“Come on, Underoos,” he said, kissing her temple before maneuvering them into a one-armed hug. “There’s someone—actually, scratch that, _two_ someones who’ve been wanting to see you.”

“Can’t wait,” she said, a grin on her face as they strolled out of the lab with arms linked around each other and happiness consuming them both. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for tuning in! It means the world to me!
> 
> All the credit to LittleMissAgrafina for the nickname Roo! I saw it in one of her fics and fell in love with it! Make sure to go check out her incredible stories while you’re at it ;)
> 
> Don’t forget: I’m on tumblr (@butyoucantnemo) if anyone wants to follow me, suggest a prompt, or just come and chat :)
> 
> Love you all dearly and I hope you have an amazing day! Remember to stay positive! ♥️


	18. R is for Redecorating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so let’s just say this is set in 2020 and Penny’s still in highschool so she’d still be home during the pandemic. The timeline’s not really important but I wanted to clarify just in case. Also, let’s pretend that Penny didn’t inherit spiders’ aversion to peppermint for the sake of this story, yeah?
> 
> Hope you enjoy some mindless fluff!

After years of being a superhero with an incredibly unpredictable lifestyle, Tony can safely say that little to nothing surprises him at this point. 

…But the last thing he expects to see when he walks into the penthouse after a long, strenuous day of non-stop meetings is the sight of Penny surrounded by the Avengers, redecorating his living room with colorful red and green tinsel, classy lights, stockings with each of their names on them, and a bare but enormous pine tree nestled into the corner of the room. 

In the beginning of October. Before the leaves on the trees have fully transformed colors. 

Tony’s not sure how long he stands dumbfounded by the elevator before Penny notices him and her already bright smile turns blinding. 

“Mr. Stark!” She chirps excitably, her eyes twinkling like the lights now hanging all over his home. Her exclamation garners the attention of the rest of the superheroes, each of whom chime in with their own happy greetings before turning back to their decorating. 

“Hey, kid,” he says slowly. “Whatcha doing there?”

“Oh, just looking through these boxes for the ornaments,” Penny responds, shrugging like there’s nothing out of the ordinary. Like it’s not weird to be decorating for Christmas literal weeks before Halloween. “Sam and Pepper are almost finished making hot chocolate in the kitchen. Want some?”

Shaking himself out of his daze, he regards his kid with a sleepy but impossibly soft smile and says, “Sure, kiddo. I’ll take some hot cocoa.”

“With marshmallows?” she questions with a playful grin. They’ve had enough late night hot chocolate sessions thanks to nightmares, insomnia, and loneliness to know that Tony is a sucker for mini-marshmallows and a peppermint stick in his hot cocoa. 

“Don’t forget my peppermint stick,” he says with a playfully sharp stare and a pointed finger in her direction, taking satisfaction in the happy giggle she lets out before bounding towards the kitchen, followed closely by every other Avenger but him and Natasha. 

Once they all disappear into the other room, Tony walks over to where Natasha is untangling lights on the couch and plops down next to her, letting out an exaggerated sigh that is met with a roll of the eyes from the ex-assassin next to him. 

“Hi, Tony,” she says dryly, wholly unfazed by the over-dramatic billionaire as she continues with the job at hand. 

“Any reason you weirdos are decorating for Christmas before the temperatures have dropped below fifty?” Tony questions, nestling comfortably into her side as she sighs and sets the lights aside, turning her attention fully towards the man. 

“Penny’s idea. She said she’s spent too much time looking at the walls of this room since March and it needed a little redecorating,” Nat explains, fondness and amusement coloring her words. 

“And she chose Christmas of all things?” Tony asks with an affectionate smile. He really shouldn’t be surprised; the kid _adores_ Christmas. 

“You know how she gets when she’s looking forward to something,” she says, eyes wandering around the room at the copious amount of decorations they’d already put up. And they had only put up half of them. 

“Yeah, I do,” Tony responds with an adoring smile, right as Penny enters the room alongside Rhodey and Steve, each of them carrying three mugs of cocoa. 

“One order of hot chocolate specially made with mini-marshmallows and a peppermint for the diva,” she says as she talks towards the couch and hands him his mug, smiling smugly when he rolls his eyes at the nickname. 

“Thank you, your highness,” he responds, leaning off of Natasha’s arm to sit up straight. He then quickly reaches up to try and pinch her arm, which she easily dodges with a laugh, even with two full mugs of hot liquid in each hand. As he blows lightly on the steaming substance, Penny gently sets one of the two remaining mugs on the end table next to Natasha. 

“Thank you, little one,” the redhead croons, a softness to her voice that is reserved exclusively for Penny. Penny grins in acknowledgment of her thanks and moves to sit down next to her mentor, mindful of the very full mugs in each of their hands. He lifts his unoccupied arm to the back of the couch, an invitation for Penny to cuddle in close, much like she always does. 

“So you orchestrated this whole ordeal, huh?” he asks playfully, gently nudging her arm as she beams in utter contentment. 

“Mhm,” she hums happily, eyes twinkling with merriment as she takes a cautious sip of her drink. 

“I like it. Threw me for a loop when I walked in but I like it. Good job, squirt,” he quips with a smirk. 

“Thanks. Pepper told me you’d like it,” Penny says with a bit of smugness, looking towards the entrance of the kitchen where Pepper emerges from, as though she was summoned. 

“Pep’s right,” he confirms before pausing. “Pepper’s always right,” both Penny and Tony add, causing them to dissolve into laughter, unaware of everyone else’s doting looks aimed towards them. 

“Wanna help me decorate the tree?” she asks after their laughter dies down a bit. By now, everyone else was back to work in the living room, swapping between doing their jobs to help in the redecoration and sipping their warm drinks as they take in the scene before their eyes, still not completely used to the idea of having a family to decorate for the holidays with. 

“Let’s just sit here for a minute. Then we can spruce it up, yeah?” he suggests in an act of unapologetic selfishness; he really just wants to spend as much time as possible with his kid before she’s swept up in the madness once again. 

“Yeah,” she responds with a little nod and smile, seeming just as happy to be in the arms of her mentor while watching the room transform even further. 

That’s just about how the rest of their night goes. More hot chocolate is made, an alarmingly high numbers of lights are accidentally broken, ornaments of each of them in their superhero get-ups seemingly appear out of thin air, and they all end up falling asleep in that very room until it’s just him and his kid awake, though he can tell she’s about two seconds from falling asleep as she rests heavily against his side. 

And sure, Tony’s exhausted from his day of endless meetings and his headache from earlier is still lingering, even though the only noise from the room is heavy breathing and some light snoring from a few of the occupants. But surrounded by his friends, _his family_ , as they peacefully sleep, worn out from a day of gleeful decorating and together-time? Well, there’s really nothing better in the world than that to him. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I don’t really know what this is but I listened to Christmas music (yes, I realize that it is, in fact, the beginning of October) while writing this and it made me happy so I hope it made you happy, too. Thanks for reading!


End file.
